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2L,  A  1CT  20)  ,  B  „  B  o 


THE 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


OF 


WILLIAM    LAUD,  D.D 


LORD  ARCHBISHOP    OF    CANTERBURY. 


BY 

JOHN  PARKER  LAWSON,  M.A. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


LONDON: 
PRINTED  FOR  C.  J.  G.  &  F.  RIVINGTON, 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH-YARD, 
AND  WATERLOO-PLACE,  PALL-MALL. 


MDCCCXXIX. 


1  LONDON: 

PRINTED  BY  R.  GILBERT, 
ST.  JOHN'S-BQUAUE. 


PREFACE. 


IN  appearing  for  the  first  time  in  an  avowed 
manner  before  the  Public,  it  is  allowable  to 
indulge  in  a  few  introductory  remarks.  I 
am  well  aware  of  the  delicacy  of  the  sub- 
jects which  I  have  attempted  to  discuss,  and 
I  am  also  aware  of  the  popular  feeling  which 
exists  respecting  them.  This,  however,  has 
not  deterred  me  from  stating  my  own  opi- 
nions, which  I  am  strongly  disposed  to  main- 
tain, because  I  believe  them  to  be  true ; 
and  they  are  to  be  ascribed  neither  to  par- 
ticular connexions,  nor  to  the  prejudices 
of  education,  but  to  a  candid  conviction, 
resulting  from  anxious  and  laborious  re- 
search. 

It  has  often  appeared  to  me  a  singular 
circumstance,  that  in  this  prolific  age  of  lite- 
rature, no  complete  biographical  history  of 
Archbishop  Laud  should  have  appeared. 
When  I  reflected  on  the  many  celebrated 
names  which  adorn  our  national  literature, 

A  2 


iv  PREFACE. 

— distinguished  alike  for  their  loyalty,  their 
talents,  and  their  learning,  I  had  anticipated 
that  a  work  such  as  the  present  would  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  some  writer,  whose 
reputation  would,  perhaps,  have  given  addi- 
tional authority  to  his  opinions.  When  I 
reflected,  again,  on  the  distinguished  place 
which  such  men  as  Archbishop  Laud  hold 
in  our  national  history, — that  they  lived  at 
periods  confessedly  the  most  momentous 
and  interesting  in  the  English  annals,  I  could 
not  refrain  from  surprise  that  those  who  had 
been  the  glory  and  the  renown  of  their  age, 
both  in  Church  and  State,  should  thus  be 
neglected  by  modern  writers. 

•  ouit   9cl    rv  §   'y?')Hof;    I   f>&JM"j  xl 

For  myself,  I  can  truly  say,  that  a  sincere 
desire  to  search  after  truth,  and  a  wish 
to  rescue  the  memory  of  a  great  man  from 
opprobrium,  have  been  my  chief  motives 
in  this  undertaking.  Educated  as  I  have 
principally  been  at  a  Northern  University, 
having  generally  resided  during  that  period, 
(excepting  the  winter  seasons,  when  I  was 
pursuing  my  academical  studies,)  in  places 
sequestered,  and  remote  from  business,  and 
the  bustle  of  active  life,  I  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  have  formed  those  connexions  to 


PREFACE.  v 

which  many  look  forward  with  fond  antici- 
pation, to  whom  fortune  has  been  more 
propitious,  and  circumstances  more  favour- 
able. I  submit  this  work  to  the  Public,  there- 
fore, trusting  solely  to  their  opinion  as  the 
reward  of  my  labours.  Whatever  may  be 
thought  of  the  propositions  I  have  advanced, 
sure  I  am  that  they  are  offered  in  singleness 
of  heart,  and  in  firm  devotion  to  that  Church, 
to  which  I  reckon  it  my  privilege  and  my 
happiness  to  belong. 

The  Memoirs  of  Archbishop  Laud,  writ- 
ten by  his  chaplain,  Dr.  Peter  Heylin,  are 
of  great  importance  in  a  history  of  the  Pri- 
mate's life  and  times ;  but  this  work,  which 
was  published  twice,  first  in  1668,  and  again 
in  1671,  (London,  folio)  is  now  a  rare  book,  and 
seldom  to  be  found  except  in  our  public  libra- 
ries. Notwithstanding  its  value,  it  labours 
under  great  disadvantages.  Many  of  the  facts 
recorded  therein  are  not  correct ;  which  is 
easily  to  be  accounted  for,  as  Dr.  Heylin, 
who  died  in  1662,  had  never  seen  the  au- 
thentic copy  of  Laud's  Diary,  [which  was 
published  by  the  learned  Henry  Whar- 
ton  in  1695,]  but  was  compelled  to  make 
use  of  Prynne's  disgraceful  publication  of  it, 


vi  PREFACE. 

entitled  the  Breviat,  published  in  1644,  in 
which  that  individual,  after  he  had  most 
illegally  and  nefariously  seized  the  Primate's 
private  papers,  altered,  mutilated,  omitted, 
and  inserted  whatever  he  pleased,  in  order 
to  inflame  the  public  mind  against  the  Arch- 
bishop. Thus,  the  defects  of  Dr.  Heylin's 
work,  although  I  have  found  it  extremely 
useful  in  the  course  of  my  labours,  are  the 
results  of  circumstances  over  which  that 
learned  man  had  no  control:  and  I  am  certain 
that,  had  he  seen  the  authentic  copy  of  the 
Diary,  his  work  would  have  been  complete. 

I  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  an  article 
contained  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  Num- 
bers of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Magazine,  an 
able  periodical  work,  which  is  unfortunately 
but  little  known,  and  now  discontinued. 
These  Numbers  contain  a  memoir  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  bare,  indeed,  in  facts,  from  the 
necessarily  confined  space  of  the  medium 
through  which  the  account  wras  given  to  the 
world,  but  abounding  with  admirable  and  pro- 
found observations.  Its  author,  to  whom  I 
am  indebted,  in  common  with  others  who  ad- 
here to  a  now  depressed  and  humble  Com- 
munion, for  many  excellent  and  valuable 


PREFACE.  vii 

instructions,  is  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
distinguished  members  of  the  Scottish  Epis- 
copal Church. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  mention  some 
other  sources  whence  I  have  derived  my 
information.  In  the  Library  of  the  HO- 
NOURABLE AND  LEARNED  THE  FACULTY 
OF  ADVOCATES,  at  Edinburgh,  I  found  much 
important  information.  That  noble  Institu- 
tion contains  a  vast  collection  of  MSS.  on 
Scottish  history,  as  well  as  on  other  sub- 
jects, and  I  perused  those  which  relate  to 
this  work. 

From  the  Library  of  the  UNIVERSITY  OF 
EDINBURGH,  I  have  received  some  valu- 
able hints  from  various  documents  and 
books. 

The  MSS.  in  the  Library  of  the  UNIVER- 
SITY OF  GLASGOW  are  of  greater  value. 
There,  among  others,  are  preserved  the 
Wodrow  MSS.,  the  fruit  of  the  labours  of 
the  indefatigable  Robert  Wodrow,  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  at  the  period  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  Professor  of  Divinity  in  that 
University.  By  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  I 


viii  PREFACE. 

received  various  important  communications 
on  the  affairs  of  Scotland  from  those  MSS.,  to 
which  I  have  referred  in  the  proper  place. 

But  in  the  Library  of  our  splendid  na- 
tional establishment,  the  BRITISH  MUSEUM, 
the  historical  inquirer  may  freely  indulge  his 
favourite  pursuits.  Encomium  on  this  Esta- 
blishment is  needless :  in  it,  besides  the 
printed  books,  the  valuable  MSS.  on  every 
subject  are  inexhaustible,  and  are  submitted 
to  the  perusal  of  the  student  with  the  utmost 
promptness.  Access  to  such  a  Library  is  an 
invaluable  privilege.  Besides  the  MSS.,  and 
the  productions  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
which  I  consulted,  and  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, many  of  the  Archbishop's  original 
letters  are  there  preserved.  I  transcribed 
the  most  interesting ;  and  I  proposed  to  in- 
sert a  few  of  them,  but  my  limits  precluded 
me  from  making  use  of  these  and  other 
documents  in  the  present  w^rk,  farther  than 
by  reference. 

The  principal  papers  of  the  Archbishop, 
however,  are  to  be  found  in  ST.  JOHN'S 
COLLEGE,  OXFORD.  Some  of  these  have  al- 
ready been  published  by  the  learned  Henry 


PREFACE.  ix 

Wharton,  and  in  the  Second  Volume  of 
Archbishop  Laud's  Remains,  edited  by  his 
father,  and  published  in  folio,  1700.  Those 
preserved  in  St.  John's  College  relate  chiefly 
to  the  University  during  his  Chancellorship, 
which  have  merely  a  local  interest,  and 
would  be  serviceable  only  in  a  history  of 
that  venerable  seat  of  learning.  To  some  of 
these  I  have  referred,  in  detailing  the  Arch- 
bishop's proceedings  at  Oxford. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  observe,  that,  after 
all,  the  Diary  of  the  Archbishop  must  be 
the  great  text-book  in  a  history  of  his 
life.  For  this  valuable  work  the  world 
is  indebted  to  the  learned  Henry  Wharton, 
who  too  soon  for  his  country  closed  his 
short  and  useful  life.  This  publication 
has  established  the  infamy  of  Prynne. 
Printed  with  the-  Archbishop's  affecting 
History  of  his  Troubles  and  Trials,  writ- 
ten by  himself  while  a  prisoner,  with  other 
interesting  documents,  it  forms  a  valuable 
folio  volume.  It  is  quite  refreshing,  after 
perusing  Prynne's  disgraceful  and  muti- 
lated edition  of  the  Diary,  and  his  "  Can- 
terburie's  Doome,"  to  turn  to  a  work  in 


x  PREFACE. 

which  reason  and  learning  prevail,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  fanaticism  and  want  of 
judgment. 

In  the  progress  of  the  present  work,  be- 
sides the  MSS.  preserved  in  the  public 
Libraries,  I  have  consulted  upwards  of  three 
hundred  works,  exclusive  of  numerous  bio- 
graphies and  general  histories  of  recent  date, 
which  I  perused  rather  to  ascertain  the  sen- 
timents of  the  different  writers,  than  in  the 
hope  of  discovering  any  new  or  unknown 
facts.  From  the  above  number  of  works, 
more  than  two  hundred  are  cited  in  the 
following  volumes.  As  these  are  principally 
our  great  standard  authorities,  this  Life  of 
Archbishop  Laud,  the  Notes  to  which  I 
consider  its  most  important  part,  will  supply 
the  historical  student  with  a  very  ample  list 
of  all  the  principal  writers  on  the  history  of 
that  age. 

I  am  desirous  that  it  should  be  understood 
that  throughout  these  volumes  I  have  dis- 
cussed systems  alone,  not  individuals ;  the 
former  I  hold  to  be  fair  subjects  of  discus- 
sion, the  latter  not ;  and  it  is  in  this  light, 


PREFACE.  xi 

therefore,  that  I  wish  my  remarks  to  be 
viewed  as  exclusively  my  own,  and  as  nei- 
ther maintained  nor  denied  by  the  Church 
to  which  I  belong. 

I  am  aware  that  many  of  the  sentiments, 
both  political  and  ecclesiastical,  contained 
in  this  work,  are  neither  common  nor  popu- 
lar ;  but  it  does  not  follow,  that  because  a 
doctrine  is  unpopular,  it  is  therefore  false. 
That  Archbishop  Laud  died  a  martyr  for 
the  Church  of  England,  no  man  can  have  the 
slightest  doubt.  Persecution  is  detestable, 
under  whatever  form,  and  by  whomsoever 
inflicted — whether  it  proceed  from  Popish 
Conclaves,  Parliamentary  Committees  on 
religion,  Presbyterian  Synods  or  General 
Assemblies. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the 
history  of  this  momentous  period,  and  much 
difference  of  opinion  exists  on  those  eventful 
times.  I  quote  on  this  subject,  with  satisfac- 
tion, the  following  passage  from  a  well-known 
periodical  Journal : — 

"  Did  our  limits  permit,  we  would  show 


xii  PREFACE. 

ft 

what  has  been  well  observed  by  a  most  dili- 
gent and  meritorious  author*,  intimately 
conversant  with  the  history  of  that  age,  and 
better  acquainted  than  any  other  person 
with  what  were  then  the  bearings  and  ef- 
fects of  religious  opinions  upon  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  that  the  constitution,  even  at  its 
deepest  depression  in  Charles'  days,  con- 
tained within  itself  copious  materials  for 
self-restoration,  and  that  the  course  pursued 
by  the  Calvinistic  malcontents,  was  not  that 
which  the  laws  suggested  for  the  redress  of 
grievances.  We  would  show  that  the  griev- 
ances which  excited  discontentment  arose 
from  no  scheme  of  tyranny  in  the  crown, 
but  from  the  remains  of  feudal  oppression, 
and  the  rapacity  of  powerful  men,  among 
whom  were  some  of  those  who  were  most 
active  in  instigating  and  directing  the  rebel- 
lion; that  the  financial  difficulties  which 
accelerated  the  crisis,  and  without  which 
that  crisis  could  not  have  been  brought 
about,  were  not  produced  by  any  wasteful 
expenditure  on  the  part  of  Charles'  govern- 


*  Mr.  James  Nichols,  in  his  "  Calvinism  and  Arminian- 
ism  compared." 


PREFACE.  xiii 

ment,  but  by  the  conduct  of  Parliament  at 
the  commencement  of  his  reign,  in  with- 
holding the  just  and  necessary  supplies ; 
and,  finally,  by  the  Scottish  insurrection, 
raised  by  the  intrigues  of  France,  and  of  a 
knot  of  factious  men,  who  are  at  this  day 
called  patriots  by  a  certain  party,  because, 
having  succeeded  in  rebellion,  they  escaped 
the  punishment  of  treason ;  that  the  intole- 
rance and  persecution  were  not  on  the  side 
of  the  Laws  and  the  Establishment,  but  of 
the  Puritans ;  that  there  was  no  design  of 
subverting  the  liberties  of  the  nation,  but 
that  there  was  a  settled  purpose  of  over- 
throwing the  Church  and  the  Monarchy ; 
that  the  King  appealed  to  the  laws,  and  his 
opponents  to  the  prejudices,  the  passions, 
and  the  physical  force  of  the  people.  It  is 
impossible  for  us  here  to  enter  upon  this 
wide  subject,  but  we  will  not  suppose  that 
the  duty  (for  such  it  has  become  in  this  age  of 
systematic  misrepresentation)  will  long  remain 
unperformed ;  rather  we  will  hope,  that  it 
may  be  undertaken  by  some  person  qualified 
for  the  task  by  ability,  industry,  and  accu- 
racy, added  to  those  principles  which  were 
formerly  the  proud  characteristics  of  Eng- 
land, and  on  which  the  strength  and  the 


xi*  PREFACE. 

safety  of  these  kingdoms  are  founded,  and 
alone  can  rest  *." 

I  may  here  add,  that  such  a  work  I  have 
determined  to  undertake ;  not,  certainly,  in 
the  presumptuous  hope  that  I  shall  be 
able  to  supply  the  desideratum  so  forcibly 
pointed  out  by  the  learned  Reviewer,  but 
with  a  view  to  lay  before  the  Public  a  plain 
and  authentic  history  of  the  enormities  of 
that  turbulent  age.  Having  enjoyed  oppor- 
tunities of  obtaining  much  knowledge  of  the 
authorities  relating  to  that  eventful  period 
of  history,  and  having  access  to  the  prin- 
cipal Libraries  both  of  England  and  Scot- 
land, it  will  be  my  endeavour  to  collate 
these  authorities  with  the  utmost  impar- 
tiality, sparing  neither  time  nor  industry  in 
the  laborious  research.  I  have  already 
proceeded  a  considerable  way  in  the  first 
volume  :  but  various  circumstances  prevent 
me  from  fixing  the  period  of  its  completion. 
I  propose  to  commence  from  the  death  of 
Henry  VIII.,  and  to  continue  the  narrative 
till  the  Revolution,  or,  perhaps,  till  the  Ac- 
cession of  the  House  of  Hanover. 

*  Quarterly  Review,  No.  Ixxiii.  Vol.  xxxvii.  p.  237, 

238. 


PREFACE.  xr 

In  conclusion,  I  have  only  to  observe, 
that,  should  the  present  work  meet  with  the 
approbation  of  the  Public,  a  third  volume 
will  be  added,  containing  the  select  Theo- 
logical Works  of  Archbishop  Laud,  most  of 
which  have  never  been  republished  since  the 
life-time  of  the  Primate.  This  volume  will 
contain  : — 1.  The  Archbishop's  Sermons, 
preached  on  public  occasions.  2.  An  Ab- 
stract of  his  incomparable  Treatise  against 
the  Church  of  Rome,  entitled,  the  Confer- 
ence with  Fisher  the  Jesuit.  3.  His  Manual 
of  Private  Prayers  and  Devotions ;  and, 
4.  His  Speeches  on  various  public  occasions. 
The  whole  will  be  accompanied  with  notes 
and  illustrations  from  rare  and  original  do- 
cuments now  in  my  possession,  or  to  which 
I  enjoy  the  privilege  of  access.  Such  a 
republication  will,  I  trust,  prove  a  desirable 
addition  to  modern  theological  literature. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1573—1603. 

PAGE 

Birth  of  Laud — His  family  connections — Notices  of  them — 
Laud's  education — Sent  to  St.  John's  College,  Oxford— 
Dr.  John  Buckeridge — Notice  of  him — Is  Laud's  tutor  • 
— Reputation  of  Laud — His  conduct  at  the  University — 
Admitted  into  Holy  Orders — Bishop  Young — Principles 
of  Laud— Calvinism,  its  nature  and  tendency — Its  un- 
happy influence  in  the  Church  of  England — The  Puri- 
tans— Conduct  of  Laud — Remarks  ••••••  • 1 — 43 


CHAPTER  IL 

1603—1604. 

Accession  of  James  I. — State  of  parties  at  that  period — 
Religious  feeling — Conduct  of  James — Remarks  on  his 
life — The  Presbyterians — Insolence  of  their  ministers — 
The  Scottish  Episcopal  Church — Review  of  the  Puritan 
objections  to  Episcopacy — The  Hampton  Court  Confe- 
rence— Its  objects  and  results — Remarks  on  the  Articles 

—  Concluding  observations    ••••••• 43 — 91 

vot,  i.  b 


xviii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 


1604—1606. 

PAGE 

Promotion  of  Laud — James'  first  Parliament — His  speech 
— Meeting  of  the  Convocation — Death  of  Archbishop 
Whitgift — Notices  of  his  life— His  character — Laud 
becomes  B.D. — His  exercise  on  that  occasion — Dispute 
with  the  Puritans — Cardinal  Bellarmine — Arguments  of 
Laud — Remarks  on  his  opinions — Story  of  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire — Unfortunate  conduct  of  Laud — His  re- 
pentance— Is  traduced  as  a  Papist — Letter  from  Bishop 
Hall— Reflections  on  Laud's  conduct  '91—126 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1606—1616. 

Archbishop  Bancroft — His  prudent  conduct — Laud's  pre- 
ferments— His  generosity — Bishop  Neile — Hatred  of 
Abbot  towards  Laud — Friendship  of  Bishop  Neile — 
Laud  is  chosen  President  of  St.  John's — His  election 
disputed — Decided  in  his  favour  by  the  King — His  con- 
duct— Death  of  Archbishop  Bancroft — His  character- 
Inconsistencies  of  the  Puritans — Their  inveterate  preju- 
dices— Danger  and  evil  of  sectarianism — Promotion  of 
Archbishop  Abbot — His  enthusiasm — Encouragement 
of  the  Puritans — Effects  of  his  Primacy — His  opposition 
to  Laud — Laud's  promotion — Dr.  Robert  Abbot — His 
sermon  against  Laud — Gloucester  Cathedral — Instruc- 
tions of  the  King  to  the  University  of  Oxford ....  126— 1 65 


CONTENTS.  xix 

CHAPTER  V. 

1616—1619. 

PAGE 

Remarks  on  the  state  of  Scotland — James  resolves  to  visit 
that  kingdom — Remarkable  violence  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministers — Proposal  for  a  union  between  Scotland  and 
England  defeated — Consecration  of  the  Scottish  Bishops 
at  Westminster — Departure  of  James — His  arrival  in 
Scotland — Laud  accompanies  him — The  Scottish  Par* 
liament — The  Perth  Articles — General  Assembly — Ra- 
tification of  the  Perth  Articles — Return  of  James  to 
England — Laud  arrives  at  Oxford — Is  inducted  into  the 
Rectory  of  Ibstock — Death  of  Dr.  Robert  Abbot, 
Bishop  of  Salisbury 165—184 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1619—1622. 

Political  errors  of  James — Clamours  against  Laud — His 
promotion — Made  Prebend  of  Westminster — Selfish 
conduct  of  Bishop  Williams — Promotion  of  Laud  to  the 
See  of  St.  David's — Fruitless  opposition  of  Archbishop 
Abbot — Aspect  of  the  times — Archbishop  Abbot's  mis- 
fortunes— He  kills  a  game-keeper  by  accident — History 
of  the  affair — He  is  pardoned  by  the  King — Consecra- 
tion of  the  new  Bishops — Their  unfounded  scruples — 
Diligence  of  Laud — His  primary  Visitation — Advan- 
tages of  it — His  return  to  London — The  Parliament — 
Distressing  situation  of  the  King — Vindication  of  James 
— The  Parliament  is  dissolved — Intrigues  of  the  Puritans 
— Calvinism — Remarks  on  Predestination — Its  effects — 


xx  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Instructions  of  the  King  to  the  Clergy — Critical  situation 
of  the  Church  of  England — Intrigues  of  the  Papists — 
The  famous  Conference  between  Laud  and  Fisher,  the 
Jesuit — Extracts  from  the  relation  of  it — His  senti- 
ments on  error • 1 84 — 227 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1622—1625. 

Land's  connexion  with  the  Duke  of  Buckingham — Notice 
of  that  favourite — The  Prince  of  Wales— Intended  mar- 
riage with  the  Infanta — His  journey  to  Spain  with  Buck- 
ingham— Their  adventures — False  assertions  of  Laud's 
enemies — Zeal  of  Archbishop  Abbot — Insolence  of  the 
Papists — Cunning  intrigues  of  Bishop  Williams — Enmity 
to  Laud — Conduct  of  the  Archbishop  towards  Laud — 
Instances  of  Laud's  piety — Meeting  of  the  Parliament 
—Remarkable  conduct  of  Abbot — Opposition  of  Laud 
to  Buckingham — Moderation  of  that  nobleman — Nego- 
ciations  with  France — Death  of  James  I. — His  character 
— His  conduct  towards  Scotland — The  Book  of  Sports 
— Defence  of  James — His  character  by  Archbishop 
Spottis  woode«« • 227—263 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1625—1626. 

Accession  of  Charles  I.-— State  of  the  nation — Character  of 
the  King — the  Duke  of  Buckingham — Bishop  Laud — 
Proceedings  of  the  King — Intrigues  of  Laud's  enemies — 
Marriage  of  Charles  I. — Meeting  of  the  first  Parlia- 
ment— Its  proceedings— Remarks  on  it — Dr.  Richard 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

Montague — Bishop  Williams — Proclamation  of  the  King 
— Conduct  of  Archbishop  Abbot — Exertions  of  Laud 
—  His  appointment  at  the  Coronation  to  officiate  as 
Dean  of  Westminster  —  The  Regalia — He  regulates 
Westminster  Abbey — Coronation  of  Charles  I. — The 
Coronation  oath — False  charges  against  Laud — The  se- 
cond Parliament — Intended  impeachment  of  Buckingham 
— he  is  vindicated  by  the  King— Conclusion  of  the  se- 
cond Parliament — Practices  against  Laud — Dr.  Good- 
man— Proclamation  of  the  King • •  263 — 32? 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1626—1628. 

Removal  of  Laud  to  the  Bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells — 
His  appointment  to  manage  the  subsidies  by  loan — Re- 
marks on  his  instructions — Apology  for  the  King's  con- 
duct— His  hazardous  situation — Death  of  Bishop  An- 
drews— Laud's  appointment  —  Bishop  Williams — His 
conduct — Comment  on  it — Dr.  Sibthorpe  and  Sir  John 
Lamb — Sermons  by  Dr.  Sibthorpe  and  Dr.  Manwaring 
— Their  fallacious  positions — Passive  obedience — Sen- 
timents of  the  two  preachers — Remarks  on  the  doctrine 
of  non-resistance — Definition  of  it — The  opinions  of  the 
Classic  writers  and  the  Primitive  Christians— Of  mo- 
dern writers — Publication  of  the  sermons — Conduct  of 
Archbishop  Abbot — His  sequestration — Received  again 
into  favour — Public  affairs — Transactions  of  Bucking- 
ham— Promotion  of  Laud — The  Bishopric  of  London — 
Its  importance — Dr.  Montaigne — Death  of  Archbishop 
Matthews  of  York — The  Third  Parliament — Impolitic 
measures  of  the  King — Meeting  of  the  Parliament — 
conduct  of  the  Commons — Their  proceedings — Speci- 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

mens  of  their  injustice — Their  practices — Arminianism 

Subtle  tenets  of  Calvin — Remarks  on  Arminianism — 

Definition  of  it — Observations  on  the  Synod  of  Dort — 
Remonstrance  of  the  Commons  against  Laud  and  Neile 
— Pretended  Letter  of  a  Jesuit — Remarks  on  it — Prac- 
tices of  the  Jesuits — Their  union  with  the  Puritans — 
Prorogation  of  the  Parliament — Laud  removed  to  the 
Bishopric  of  London — General  observations  ••••  327 — -424 


CHAPTER  X. 

1628—1629. 

Insinuations  against  Laud — His  conduct — Preparations  for 
the  war  with  France — The  Duke  of  Buckingham  as- 
sumes the  command — He  proceeds  to  Portsmouth — Is 
there  assassinated — Account  of  the  murder — Public  ex- 
pressions of  detestation— Character  of  Buckingham — 
Laud's  conduct — Consecration  of  Dr.  Montague — The 
exceptions  against  it  over-ruled; — Examination  of  Pel- 
ton,  the  Duke's  murderer — His  trial  and  execution — 
The  University  of  Oxford — Laud's  care  and  munificence 
— His  patronage  of  learning — The  King's  Declaration 
— Its  nature  and  tendency — Remarks  on  it — The  King's 
inclination  to  a  reconciliation — Advancement  of  Sir  Tho- 
mas Wentworth — The  third  Parliament — Notice  of  the 
speeches  in  it — Censure  of  the  King's  Declaration — 
Intolerance  of  the  Puritanical  party — Proceedings  of 
Laud — Theological  disputes — Conduct  of  the  Parlia- 
ment— Disorders  in  the  Commons — Their  contempt  of 
the  royal  authority — Uproar  at  their  adjournment  — 
Dissolution  of  the  third  Parliament — Libels  against 
Laud..  .424—481 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1629—1631. 

PAGE 

The  Court  of  Charles  I. — Character  of  the  King — The 
Queen — Laud — The  expediency  of  ecclesiastics  inter- 
fering with  state  affairs  discussed — Character  of  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton — Notice  of  his  life — Character  of 
Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  Lord  Wentworth — Notice  of  his 
life — Consequence  of  Abbot's  Primacy — The  Lecturers 
— Their  practices — Cognizance  taken  of  them  by  the 
court — Instructions  concerning  them — Preaching — Its 
nature  and  uses — Popular  errors  on  it — Conduct  of 
Archbishop  Abbot — Proceedings  of  Laud — Specimens 
of  the  devotions  of  the  Lecturers — Prosecutions  against 
them  for  sedition — Death  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
Chancellor  of  Oxford — Election  of  Laud  as  Chancellor 
of  that  University — His  munificence  and  patronage  of 
literature — Birth  of  Charles  II. — Laud  officiates  at  the 
baptism — Revival  of  the  Predestinarian  Controversy — 
Dr.  Davenant,  Bishop  of  Salisbury — Libels  against  Laud 
— Story  of  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton — His  book  termed 
"  Zion's  Plea" — His  degradation  and  punishment — 
Defence  of  Laud — Examination  of  the  Star-Chamber 
proceedings — The  consecration  of  the  Church  of  St.  Ca- 
therine Cree — The  nature  of  religious  ceremonies — 
The  Papists  and  Puritans — Remarks  on  Laud's  con- 
duct— Farther  instances  of  his  munificence 481 — 549 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1631—1633. 

The  Impropriations — Conduct  of  Laud — Dr.  Peter  Hey- 
lin's  Sermon  at  St.  Mary's,  Oxford — Laud  restrains  the 

2 


xxiv  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Impropriations— His  proceedings  at  Oxford — He  en- 
larges St.  John's  College — Promotes  the  repairs  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral — Clamours  of  the  Puritans — His  go- 
vernment of  the  University — Enforces  the"  statutes — 
Remarkable  enthusiasm  of  a  graduate — Combination  of 
the  Puritan  faction  at  Oxford — Cognizance  of  three  of 
the  leaders — Their  punishments — Impartiality  of  Laud 
— New  revival  of  the  Predestinarian  controversy — Arch- 
bishop Usher  of  Ireland — Calumnies  against  Laud — 
Lord  Wentworth  proceeds  to  Ireland — Ecclesiastical  af- 
fairs— Prosecution  of  the  King's  printers — Henry  Sher- 
field — William  Prynne — Notice  of  him  and  his  writings 
— His  seditious  libels — His  imprisonment — Proceedings 
relative  to  Chaplains  and  foreign  service — The  English 
congregation  at  Hamburgh — Salutary  regulations  by 
Laud — General  remarks • *••«..  549—592 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


OF 


WILLIAM   LAUD,  D.D. 


CHAPTER  I. 
1573—1603. 

Birth  of  Laud — His  family  connections — Notices  of  them — 
Laud's  education — Sent  to  St.  John's  College,  Oxford — Dr. 
John  Buckeridge — Notice  of  him — Is  Laud's  tutor — Reputa- 
tion of  Laud — His  conduct  at  the  University — Admitted  into 
Holy  Orders — BishopYoung — Principles  of  Laud — Calvinism, 
its  nature  and  tendency — Its  unhappy  influence  in  the  Church 
of  England — The  Puritans — Conduct  of  Laud — Remarks. 

WILLIAM  LAUD  was  born  on  the  7th  day  of  October, 
1573  \  in  the  parish  of  St.  Lawrence,  Reading,  a 
town  of  considerable  importance  in  Berkshire,  plea- 
santly situated  on  the  river  Kennet,  and  famous 
for  its  magnificent  abbey,  now  in  ruins,  founded  by 
Henry  I.  in  1126,  and  dedicated  to  St.  James  the 
Apostle 2.  He  was  the  only  son  of  William  Laud, 

1  Wood,  Athen.  edit.  1721,  vol.  ii.  col.  55.  Laud's  Diary, 
p.  1.  fol.  edit.  1695. 

3  Dugdale's  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  vol.  i.  folio,  edit.  1682, 

p.  417.     Lansdowne  MSS.  721.     "  Abstract  of  the  Lives  of 

John  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  Archbishop  of  York, 

and  of  William  Laud,  Bishop  of  London,  and  Archbishop  of 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1573. 

by  profession  a  clothier,  and  Lucy  Webb,  sister  to 
Sir  William  Webb  of  the  same  county,  of  an  ancient 
and  respectable  family,  who  filled  the  office  of  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  in  1591  *.  His  mother  had  been 
once  married,  previous  to  her  marriage  with  his 
father :  but  of  her  first  husband  we  know  nothing, 
save  his  name  and  occupation.  He  was  John  Ro- 
binson, an  eminent  clothier  and  merchant  in  Read- 
ing, by  whom  she  had  several  sons  and  daughters, 
all  of  them  respectably  connected  in  after  life. 
A  younger  son  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  was 
Prebendary  of  Westminster  and  Archdeacon  of 
Nottingham,  and  two  of  the  daughters  were  mar- 
ried to  clergymen  of  considerable  reputation  in  the 
Church2. 

Though  the  man  who  was  in  future  to  rise  to 

Canterbury,  written  by  Bishop  Racket  and  Dr.  Heylin,  who 
had  been  their  Chaplains."  It  is  there  stated,  "  1573,  William 
Laud  was  born  at  Reading,  in  Berkshire,  his  father  a  rich 
clothier,  and  his  mother  (widow  to  one  Robinson,  a  clothier,  by 
whom  she  had  children)  a  sister  to  Sir  William  Webb,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  in  1591.  So  he  was  not  born  of  poor  and 
obscure  parents,  efaece  plebis,  as  many  said."  Sir  William 
Webb,  it  appears,  was  a  salter.  Fuller's  Church  History,  book 
xi.  p.  246. 

1  Laud's  maternal  relatives  were  natives  of  Reading.     His 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  John  Webb,  of  whom  we  know  nothing. 
John  Webb  was  father  of  Sir  William  Webb.     Wood.  Athen. 
Oxon.  by  Dr.  Bliss,  vol.  iii.  col.  117.     Fuller's  English  Wor- 
thies, folio,  edit.  1662,  p.  98. 

2  Dr.  Cotsford  and  Dr.  Layfield.    Cyprianus  Anglicus,  or 
Life  of  Archbishop  Laud,  by  his  chaplain,  Dr.  Peter  Heylin,  fol. 
1671,  p.  42. 

7 


1573.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  3 

the  highest  ecclesiastical  station  in  the  Church, 
and  to  be  alike  distinguished  for  his  munificence, 
his  learning,  and  his  genius,  could  not  boast  of 
noble  birth  or  splendid  alliance,  yet  his  parents, 
while  engaged  in  trade,  were  respectable  in  their 
station,  and  possessed  of  considerable  wealth1.  His 
father  was  most  extensively  engaged  in  manufac- 
tures, and  we  are  informed  that  he  kept  "  not  only 
many  looms  in  his  house,  but  many  weavers,  spin- 
ners, and  fullers  ;  living  in  good  esteem  and  repu- 
tation among  his  neighbours  to  the  very  last2."  ,Of 
Laud's  plebeian  birth,  however,  his  enemies  after- 
wards took  advantage,  with  that  illiberality  which 
is  characteristic  of  little  minds.  When  his  actions 
were  exhibited  to  his  disadvantage  by  those  whose 
extravagant  pretensions  he  restrained,  it  was  not 

1  I  may  here  notice  the  puerile  and  false  assertions  of  the  Pu- 
ritans.    Neal  (History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  156.)  says, 
that  "  he  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  upon  the 
charitable  donation  of  Mr.  White,  Founder  of  Merchant  Tailors' 
School."     There  is  here  a  contemptuous  way  of  talking  of  Sir 
T.  White's  scholarships,  which  marks  the  disposition  of  the 
party  :  besides,  Laud  was  one  year  at  College  on  his  own  ex- 
pences,  before  he  received  the  scholarship,  an  appointment  so 
honourable  to  his   promising  talents.      That  violent  fanatic, 
Prynne,  also  tells  us,  that  he  was  born  of  "  poor  and  obscure 
parents  in  a  cottage,"  and  in  July,  1589,  "  he  came  a  poor 
scholar  to  Oxford."     Such  were  the  low  and  scurrilous  false- 
hoods retailed  by  the  Puritans.    Prynne's  Breviat  of  the  Life  of 
Laud,  folio,  London,  1644,  p.  1. 

2  Heylin,  ut  sup.  p.  42.     Laud's  father  died  on  the  llth  of 
April,  1594,  and  his  mother  on  the  24th  of  November,  1600. 
Diary,  folio,  ut  sup.  p.  1,2.     Lansdowne  MSS.  721. 

B2 


4  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1573. 

forgotten,  that  he  who  was  then  primate  of  all 
England  was  comparatively  of  humble  origin ;  nor 
were  those  furious  zealots  satisfied  with  stating  that 
he  was  the  son  of  a  respectable  and  wealthy  trades- 
man, and  abiding  by  the  naked  truth,  but  falsehoods 
were  busily  circulated,  and  his  enemies,  delineating 
his  character  to  their  liking,  broadly  asserted  that  he 
was  sprung  from  the  very  dregs  of  the  people  1. 

1  E  faece  plebis.  Lord  Brook,  referred  to  by  Heylin,  who 
falsely  asserted  this  not  only  of  Laud,  but  of  all  the  other  Bi- 
shops. Republicanism,  however,  had  then  wrought  its  ferment, 
and  the  sectaries  were  rapidly  advancing  in  their  career  of  ex- 
travagance, rebellion,  and  blood.  Lord  Brook,  however,  ought 
to  have  been  sparing  of  this  insinuation  on  his  part,  inasmuch  as 
he  succeeded  to  the  estate  and  honour  in  a  very  remote  degree, 
his  father,  though  a  kinsman,  being  only  keeper  of  Sir  Fulk 
Greville's  park.  The  son  afterwards  succeeded  to  the  estate,  Sir 
Fulk  Greville  having  never  been  married.  (Vide  Peerage  of  Eng- 
land, London  edit.  8vo.  1710,  p.  67,  68.)  Dr.  Heylin,  who  was 
the  chaplain  and  confidential  friend  of  Laud,  introduces  an  anec- 
dote of  the  Archbishop  on  this  subject.  He  says  that  he  once 
found  him  in  his  garden  at  Lambeth  walking  to  and  fro  in  re- 
markable agitation,  and  though  he  did  not,  through  delicacy,  in- 
quire the  reason,  the  primate  shewed  him  a  paper,  on  which  was 
printed  a  vile  libel,  which  he  had  stopped  at  the  press,  repre- 
senting him  with  "  so  base  a  parentage,  as  if  he  had  been  raked 
out  of  the  dung-hill."  He  at  the  same  time  said,  that "  though 
he  had  not  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  a  gentleman,  yet 
he  thanked  God  he  had  been  born  of  honest  parents,  who  lived 
in  a  plentiful  condition,  employed  many  poor  people  in  their 
way,  and  left  a  good  report  behind  them."  As  if  ashamed, 
however,  to  have  been  impressed  with  those  falsehoods  which 
his  sectarian  enemies  daily  invented  and  retailed,  and  reflecting 
with  satisfaction  on  the  worth  and  respectability  of  his  pa- 
rents, his  countenance  resumed  its  wonted  composure.  "  And 


1573.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  5 

They  chose  to  forget,  that,  even  had  it  been  the 
case,  the  more  worthy  was  he  of  that  eminence  to 
which  he  had  attained,  since  the  man  who  could 
exalt  himself  solely  by  his  genius  and  merit,  was 
to  be  held  in  much  greater  reverence  than  he  who, 
boasting  of  his  noble  lineage,  had  no  other  recom- 
mendation. They  forgot  that  it  is  a  remarkable 
feature  of  that  country,  about  whose  liberty  they 
clamoured  so  violently,  that  the  highest  offices  are 
open  to  every  Briton,  and  that  he  whose  genius  has 
secured  for  him  a  well-earned  reputation,  is  every 
way  as  noble  when  he  is  exalted,  as  the  offspring  of 
fortune  and  ancestral  fame.  But,  without  enlarging 
on  these  inconsistences,  I  may  here  remark,  that 
the  coincidence  between  Laud's  situation,  and  that 
of  some  of  his  predecessors  in  the  Church,  as  well 
as  of  some  of  those  who  were  his  ecclesiastical 
contemporaries,  is  very  remarkable.  I  need  not 
go  to  the  Church  of  Rome  for  examples,  though 
abundant  proofs  could  be  adduced  from  its  his- 
tory, that  the  best  and  the  most  celebrated  of  the 
Popes  and  dignitaries  were  men  of  humble  origin, 

thereupon,"  says  Heylin,  "  I  told  him  as  presently  as  I  durst, 
that  Pope  Sixtus  V.  as  stout  a  Pope  as  ever  wore  the  triple 
crown,  but  a  poor  man's  son,  did  use  familiarly  to  say,  in  con- 
tempt of  such  libels  as  frequently  were  made  against  him, 
that  he  was  domo  natus  illustri,  because  the  sun-beams  passing 
through  the  broken  walls  and  ragged  roof,  illuminated  or  illus- 
trated every  corner  of  that  homely  cottage  in  which  he  was 
born  :  with  which  facetiousness  of  that  Pope,  so  applicable  to 
the  present  occasion,  he  seemed  very  well  pleased."  Heylin, 
ut  sup.  p.  43,  44. 


6  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1573. 

nay,  some  of  them  of  menial  extraction.  In  our 
own  country,  especially  in  the  Church,  before  the 
Reformation,  there  are  two  notable  examples,  and 
the  impartial  pen  of  history  will  yet,  perhaps,  do 
justice  to  Thomas  a  Beckett,  as  it  has  done,  it  is 
pleasing  to  know,  to  the  memory  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey.  An  Erasmus  and  a  Luther  on  the  con- 
tinent owed  nothing  to  birth  or  grandeur,  nor  yet 
did  Abbott,  Laud's  predecessor  in  the  See  of  Can- 
terbury, who  was  nevertheless  saved  from  such 
reproaches  because  he  favoured  the  absurdities 
of  the  Puritans.  It  is  needless,  indeed,  to  enu- 
merate those  prior  to  the  days  of  Laud,  both 
ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  who  rose  superior  to.  the 
depressing  influence  of  poverty,  and  whose  minds, 
cast  in  other  than  plebeian  mould,  enabled  them  to 
surmount  the  difficulties  opposed  to  them  by  hum- 
ble birth  and  adverse  fortune.  Nor  yet  need  I  stop 
to  animadvert  on  that  most  certain  mark  of  a 
pusillanimous  mind,  which  repines  at  the  uncon- 
trolable  allotment  of  Providence,  forgetting  that 
heaven  is  impartial  in  its  dispensations,  and  that  all 
are  equal  in  the  eyes  of  Omnipotence,  who  "  giveth 
to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraideth  not."  And 
who,  after  all,  were  those  who  thus  dealt  in  slander 
and  falsehood  ?  It  was  too  base,  indeed,  and  too 
ignoble  for  the  man  of  illustrious  descent,  who, 
animated  with  noble  and  virtuous  principles,  dis- 
dains the  weak  retort,  and  rather  looks  on  him 
thus  elevated  to  his  own  rank  as  a  brother ;  nor 
were  the  nobles  of  that  age,  proud  and  haughty  as 


1573.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  7 

they  were,  actuated  by  such  weakness  :  but  those 
very  persons  who  themselves  were  Jiumili  nati, 
who  inherited  the  low  and  grovelling  associations 
of  their  birth,  who  nevertheless  felt  their  humilia- 
tion before  Laud's  vigorous  mind,  and  who,  because 
their  fanaticism  and  absurdities  had  been  restrained, 
endeavoured  to  excite  among  the  people  their  das- 
tardly and  ignoble  spirit  of  revenge1. 

During  his  infancy,  Laud  was  subject  to  illness, 
to  such  a  degree  that  he  was  not  expected  to  live 2. 

1  A  scandalous  libel  upon  Laud  appeared  in  a  production 
entitled  the  Scots  Scouts  Discoveries,  London,  1642.  (Bishop 
Kennet,  apud  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  iii.  col.  117,  note.)  "  His 
father  was  a  clothier,  his  mother  a  spinster ;  he  was  from  his 
cradle  ordained  to  be  a  puiiisher  of  poor  people,  for  he  was  born 
between  the  stocks  and  the  cage,  which  a  courtier  one  day 
chanced  to  speak  of,  whereupon  his  grace  removed  them  thence, 
and  pulled  down  his  father's  thatched  house,  and  built  a  fair  one 
in  the  place."  But  let  us  state  the  truth.  The  Puritan  writer 
endeavours  to  insinuate,  that  Laud  was  ashamed  of  his  birth,  and 
that  he  built  a  house,  in  order  to  obliterate  the  recollection  of  the 
one  in  which  he  was  born.  The  "  fair  house,"  therefore,  which 
"  his  grace"  built,  wras,  as  the  Puritan  writer  knew  well,  an 
alms-house,  which  he  endowed  with  two  hundred  pounds  per 
annum.  So  much  for  Puritan  veracity.  I  find,  moreover,  that 
in  a  small  black  letter  tract,  printed  in  quarto,  1641,  which 
contains  an  account  of  Laud,  although  it  is  written  by  no  pro- 
fessed friend,  there  is  no  notice  taken  of  his  connections,  or  any 
insinuations  made  on  his  birth.  At  all  events,  it  is  despicable  in 
a  modern  writer  to  repeat  this  slander.  Many  of  our  present 
noble  families  were  in  the  days  of  Laud  ignoble.  See  Diary,  and 
Fuller,  book  xi.  p.  216,  also  the  Topographical  and  Historical 
Account  of  Berkshire. 

3  Diary,  p.  1.  "  In  my  infancy,"  says  Laud,  "  I  was  in 
danger  of  death  by  sickness,  &c," 


8  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1589. 

Having  recovered,  he  received  the  rudiments  of  his 
education  at  the  free-school  of  his  native  town,  at 
which  he  continued  till  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age. 
It  is  recorded,  that,  while  he  was  at  school,  he  gave 
so  many  indications  of  his  future  eminence,  that 
his  master  frequently  said  to  him,  that  he  hoped 
he  would  remember  Reading  School  when  he  be- 
came a  great  man  l.  Little,  however,  is  known 
of  his  juvenile  years.  In  the  month  of  July,  1589, 
he  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  when  only 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  was  admitted  a  com- 
moner of  St.  John's  College,  at  that  time  under  the 
superintendence  of  John  Buckeridge,  afterwards  its 
President,  and  successively  Bishop  of  Rochester 
and  Ely.  This  distinguished  prelate  was  born 
at  Draycot,  near  Marlborough,  in  Wiltshire,  and 
was  the  son  of  William  Buckeridge,  and  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  a  gentleman  named  Keblewhyte,  of 
Baseldon,  and  cousin  to  Sir  Thomas  White,  founder 
of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford.  He  was  educated 
at  Merchant  Taylors  School,  and  in  1578  became 
scholar  of  St.  John's,  Oxford,  and  shortly  after- 
wards Fellow  of  that  society 2.  It  was,  perhaps, 
among  the  most  fortunate  events  of  Laud's  early 

1  Lloyd's  Memoires,  folio,  London,  1668,  p.   225.     "After 
a  wonderful  preservation  in  his  infancy  from  a  very  sore  fit  of 
sickness,  and  a  happy  education  in  his  childhood  under  a  very 
severe  schoolmaster,    who,    from  his    strange    dreams,   witty 
speeches,  generous  spirit,  great  apprehensions,  and  notable  per- 
formances, promised  him  the  greatness  which  he  afterwards 
enjoyed." 

2  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  ii.  col.  507. 


1589.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  9 

life,  that  he  was  under  the  direction  of  this  eminent 
man.  Buckeridge  was  distinguished  for  his  zeal- 
ous attachment  to  the  Church  of  England,  parti- 
cularly in  opposition  to  the  Puritans,  who,  notwith- 
standing the  dislike  entertained  towards  them  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the  severity  which  she  felt  it 
necessary  to  exercise,  had  already  broached  that 
wild  enthusiasm  which  was  destined  to  break  out 
with  violence  in  the  succeeding  century.  Laud 
was  not  unmindful  of  his  venerable  and  learned 
preceptor  in  the  days  of  his  elevation,  and  Bishop 
Buckeridge  has  left  behind  him  most  honourable 
memorials  of  his  zeal  for  apostolical  and  primitive 
truth '. 

1  Godwin,  Catal.  Episc.  p.  534.  "  Et  tarn  scribendo,  quam 
concionando  veritatem  Evangelicam  haud  segniter  satagit  pro- 
pugnare."  Of  this  worthy  prelate  it  may  also  be  proper  to  ob- 
serve, that  he  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  defenders  of  the  Pro- 
testant doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  opposition  to  the 
dogmas  of  Ijiome.  "  A  person  he  was,"  says  Antony  Wood,  "  of 
great  gravity  and  learning,  and  one  that  knew  as  well  as  any  other 
person  of  his  time,  how  to  employ  the  two-edged  sword  of  the 
holy  Scripture,  of  which  he  made  good  proof  in  the  times  suc- 
ceeding, brandishing  it  on  the  one  side  against  the  Papists,  and 
on  the  other  against  the  Puritans  and  Non-conformists."  And 
Dr.  F.  Godwin  (Comment,  de  Praesulibus  Angllce)  says,  that 
he  endeavoured  most  industriously  to  defend  and  propagate  the 
true  religion,  by  law  established,  as  appears  from  his  famous 
work,  De  Potestate  Papce  in  Rebus  temf.oralibus,  sive  in  Regi- 
bus  deponendis  usurpata,  adversus  Robertum  Cardinalem  Bellar- 
minum.  This  elaborate  work,  which  is  a  large  quarto  volume, 
was  published  in  London,  1614.  In  his  celebrated  sermon 
preached  at  Whitehall,  March  22,  1617,  "  touching  prostration 
and  kneeling  in  the  worship  of  God,"  from  Psalm  xcv.  6,  and 


10  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1590. 

Under  the  superintendence  of  this  excellent  man, 
young  Laud  pursued  his  studies  with  the  most  in- 
defatigable activity  and  success.  After  residing 
one  year  at  St.  John's  College  as  commoner,  in  the 
month  of  June,  1590,  he  was  chosen  scholar  of 
Ij.SiMi  ixJn  dsifiw  ".  ''':'>  rrv?  ;''.) 

in  his  "  Discourse  concerning  Kneeling  at  the  Communion,"  he 
completely  vanquished  the  Scotch  Presbyterians,  four  of  whom 
had  been  honoured  with  an  audience  at  Hampton  Court,  when 
he  preached  a  sermon  from  Romans  xiii.  5,  on  September  23, 
1606.  On  that  occasion  the  two  Melvilles  were  present,  famous 
for  their  turbulence,  and  fiery  zeal  for  Calvinism.  He  published 
three  other  sermons, — a  funeral  one  on  Heb.  iv.  7.  the 
second,  on  the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  same  chapter,  and  the  third 
on  Heb.  iv.  7.  (1618.)  The  second  sermon,  which  is  a  truly 
admirable  one,  is  to  be  found  at  the  end  of  Bishop  Andrews' 
Sermons,  folio,  London,  edit.  1661.  This  prelate  was  a  bene- 
factor to  St.  John  Baptist's  College,  Oxford,  where  his  picture, 
says  Kennet,  (anno  1717)  is  now  preserved  on  the  south  wall  of 
the  common  hall.  "  Dr.  J.  Buckeridge,  episcop.  Eliensis  altaris 
suae  capellae  vestimenta  Phrygii  operis  pulvinaria,  pallium, 
calicem,  &c.  collegio-legavit,  ann.  1631.  Hie  episcopus  dona- 
vit  500  Ib.  terris  quibusdam  redimendis  quarum  proventus  omni- 
bus et  singulis  turn  sociis  turn  scholaribus  ex  sequa  divideren- 
tur,  ann.  1631."  Two  extracts  from  letters  written  by  the 
unfortunate  Earl  of  Essex  (to  whom  Bishop  Buckeridge  was 
chaplain)  to  the  Lord  Keeper  Puckering  ;  the  one  dated  1 7th 
Feb.  1594,  and  the  other  12th  Jan.  1595,  will  be  found  in 
Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iv.  p.  245,  246.  and  in  Wood,  vol.  ii.  col. 
509,  510.  The  exact  date  of  Bishop  Buckeridge's  death  is  not 
known,  save  that  he  was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of  Brom- 
ley, in  Kent,  the  manor  of  which  belongs  to  the  see  of  Roches- 
ter, on  the  31st  of  May,  1631.  Wood,  ut  supra;  Strype's 
Annals,  vol.  iv.  ;  also  Fuller's  Church  History,  cent.  xvii. 
London  edit,  folio,  1655.  "  By  the  temper  of  the  tutor  we 
may  see  that  of  the  scholar."  Lansdowne  MSS.  721. 


1593.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  11 

that  society l.  We  are  informed,  by  Dr.  Heylin 2, 
that  he  was  held  in  so  great  estimation  in  his  own 
native  town,  "  partly  by  his  own  proficiency,  and 
partly  by  the  good  esteem  which  was  had  of  his 
father/'  that  he  was  nominated,  by  the  mayor  and 
others,  a  scholar  of  St.  John's,  "  according  to  the 
constitutions  of  Sir  Thomas  White,  the  honourable 
and  sole  founder  of  it ;"  for,  though  that  munificent 
patron  of  letters  had  originally  intended  Merchant 
Taylors  School  in  London  as  the  chief  place 
whence  his  scholarships  should  be  supplied,  yet  he 
was  a  man  of  too  liberal  a  mind  to  make  his  muni- 
ficence comparatively  so  exclusive,  and  therefore  he 
instituted  seven  fellowships  unconnected  with  that 
establishment,  assigning  two  to  Coventry,  two  to 
Bristol,  two  to  Reading,  and  one  to  Tunbridge.  In 
1593,  Laud  was  admitted  Fellow  of  St.  John's,  and 
in  June,  1594,  he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts 3.  In  the  years  1596-7,  he  himself  informs  us, 
that  he  was  overtaken  by  a  severe  illness4.  After 
his  recovery,  he  proceeded  Master  of  Arts,  which 
degree  he  received  in  July  1598,  when  he  became 
grammar  reader,  but  relapsed  into  sickness  towards 
the  end  of  the  same  year 5. 

1  Laud's  Diary,  p.  1.     Lansdowne  MSS.  ut  sup. 

2  Life  of  Laud,  ut  sup.  p.  45. 

3  Diary,  ut  sup. 

4  Anno  1596,  "  I  had  a  great  sickness/'  and  another,  1597, 
Diary,  ut  sup. 

5  Diary,  ut  sup.     Wood,  however,  asserts,  (Fasti,  vol.  i.  col. 
144,)  that  he  became  B.A.  July  1,  1594,  and  M.A.  June  26, 
1598.     That  industrious  writer  has  confounded  the  months. 


12  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1598. 

Respecting  Laud's  general  conduct  while  at  the 
University,  we  are  informed  by  Wood  \  that  he 
was  "  at  that  time  esteemed  by  all  that  knew  him, 
(being  little  in  stature)  a  very  forward,  confident, 
and  zealous  person."  It  is  not  at  all  improbable, 
that  he  felt  much  of  that  rashness  and  buoyancy 
natural  to  youth,  which  would  be  more  particularly 
liable  to  excitement  on  account  of  the  influence  of  the 
Puritan  faction  in  the  University,  whose  enthusiasm 
it  was  impossible  not  to  despise.  But  it  does  not 
follow,  though  his  enemies,  who  eagerly  caught  at 
every  thing-  to  suit  their  purpose,  endeavoured  after- 
wards to  make  it  appear,  since  he  was  uniformly  the 
same  man  from  his  birth  to  his  death,  that  he  gave 
any  extraordinary  signs  of  haughty  demeanour. 
It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  the  testimony  now  be- 
fore us  is  on  the  authority  of  the  Puritans,  and  of 
those  violent  supralapsarians  whom  he  afterwards 
so  successfully  opposed ;  who  themselves  were  not 
too  scrupulous  in  veracity,  either  in  public  or  pri- 
vate, as  is  notorious  to  every  one  who  knows  any 
thing  of  the  crafty  and  designing  methods  which 
they  adopted  to  accomplish  their  own  ends 2 ;  and  it 
will  be  much  more  apparent  to  him  who  impartially 
peruses  the  volumes  of  Neal,  the  Puritan  histo- 
rian3, or  any  of  those  contradictions  repeated  by 
Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet,  in  their  History  of 
Dissenters.  Nevertheless,  it  may  have  so  happened 

'Wood,  vol.  iii.  col.  117.  122. 

2  For  example,  in  the  affair  about  the  famous  Lambeth  Articles; 

3  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vols.  ii,  and  iii.  ch.  5. 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  13 

that  Laud  did  conduct  himself  haughtily  (at  least 
reservedly)  towards  the  Puritan  faction  in  the  Uni- 
versity,, nor  am  I  at  all  inclined  to  exhibit  him  as 
destitute  of  any  of  the  failings  of  humanity,  or  su- 
perior to  the  sallies  of  youth,  before  his  mind  was 
matured  by  experience  and  reflection.  But  it  is  un- 
fair to  allow  sectarian  prejudice  so  completely  to  ob- 
scure common  sense,  as  to  seize  on  the  slightest 
peculiarities  of  youth,  and  fasten  them  on  the  actions 
of  maturer  years,  as  indications  of  what  some  men 
choose  to  call  tyranny,  and  others  popery.  And 
thus  much  must  be  said  of  Laud,  while  only  a  pri- 
vate member  of  the  University,  that  he  then  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  future  eminence  ;  that  he  was  held 
in  no  small  estimation  ;  and  that  the  fame  which  he 
acquired  in  all  his  public  appearances  is  honourable 
to  his  genius,  his  industry,  and  his  learning. 

On  the  fourth  of  January,  1600,  he  was  admitted 
into  deacon's  orders,  by  Dr.  Young,  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  and,  on  the  5th  of  April,  1601,  he  was 
ordained  a  priest  by  the  same  prelate1.  We  are 
informed  that  this  prelate,  "  finding  his  study 
raised  above  the  systems  and  opinions  of  the  age, 
upon  the  noble  foundation  of  the  fathers,  councils, 
and  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  early  presaged, 
that,  if  he  lived,  he  would  be  an  instrument  of 
restoring  the  church  from  the  narrow  and  private 
principles  of  modern  times,  to  the  more  enlarged, 

Diary,  p.  2.  Lloyd's  Memoires,  p.  225.  Heylin's  Life 
of  Laud,  p.  45.  Wood's  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  iii.  col.  117,  118. 
et  seq. 


14  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

liberal,  and  public  sentiments  of  the  apostolic  and 
primitive  ages1."  Nor  was  Bishop  Young  mistaken 
in  his  judgment,  though  he  well  knew  that  it  would 
be  a  task  of  no  small  difficulty, — a  task,  indeed, 
not  likely  to  be  accomplished  without  bloodshed. 
For,  after  the  English  Reformation  of  religion, 
notions  had  been  entertained  by  many  persons  in 
the  Church,  not  only  subversive  of  its  constitution, 
but  highly  detrimental  to  the  safety  and  well-being 
of  the  state.  The  discipline  of  Geneva,  and  the 
doctrine  of  expediency,  as  laid  down  by  John  Calvin, 
who  has  the  merit,  if  merit  it  be,  of  contriving  and 
introducing  a  new  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity, 
and  who,  moreover,  has  the  still  more  questionable 
merit  of  discovering  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  cer- 
tain doctrines  which  exhibit  the  Deity  not  in  the 
most  favourable  light,  as  he  himself  was  forced  to 
confess,  when  with  grief  he  admits  it  to  be  an  hor- 
ribile  decretum: — this  discipline  had  led  many 
astray  from  the  maxims  of  primitive  truth  and 
order,  and  the  notions  of  expediency  as  to  the 
Church  and  its  visibility,  had  engendered  a  la- 
mentable callousness  towards  that  very  Church  of 
which  they  all  professed  to  be  sincere  members. 
Forgetting  that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  one  and 
undivided, — forgetting  that  the  Saviour  himself 
declared,  "  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world," — and 
forgetting,  too,  that  this  union  is  not  solely  a  spi- 
ritual union,  composed  at  the  same  time  of  outward 

J  Lloyd's  Memoires,  &c.  p.  225,  226. 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  15 

heterogeneous  masses,  but  is,  in  truth,  both  a  spiri- 
tual and  a  temporal  union,  no  limits  were  assigned 
to  the  extravagances  of  fancy,  and  no  safeguard 
adopted  for  the  preservation  of  that  Church,  the 
doctrines  of  which  Latimer,  Ridley,  and  Cranmer, 
had  sealed  with  their  blood.  But  the  axiom 
which  Laud  subsequently  assumed,  though  doubt- 
less sneered  at  by  Dissenters,  is  strictly  true, 
that  the  Church  must  be  guarded  both  against 
Rome  and  Geneva — that  a  Church  founded  on  the 
Apostles,  and  not  on  Christ,  is  the  Roman  and  the 
Genevan  rock — but  that  the  Church  must  have  a 
more  solid  basis,  or  it  has  no  foundation  at  all ; 
and  that,  though  it  must  be  built  on  the  founda- 
tion of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  must  be  the  chief  corner-stone.  There  were, 
therefore,  only  two  positions, — either  that  the  Church 
must  be  a  regularly  organized  body,  which,  though 
a  voluntary  association,  acknowledges  Christ  for 
its  head,  or  it  must  not ;  there  must  either  be 
systems  of  authority  and  regulation,  or  there  must 
be  anarchy  and  confusion  ;  it  must,  in  short, 
either  be  like  a  well-governed  and  well- organised 
kingdom,  to  which  it  is  compared  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  *,  or  it  must  be  so  ill-regulated,  as  that 
all  its  members  may  literally  do  that  which  is  right 

1  1  Cor.  i.  10.  Ephes.  iii.  4.  7.  14.  v.  23—30.  1  Tim.  vi.  34. 
Heb.  xii.  22.  Matt.  xvi.  18, 19.  Col.  i.  18.  Rom.  xiii.  1.  xv.  6. 
xvi.  17.  1  Pet.  ii.  13.  1  John  xvii.  17.  1  Cor.  xii.  13.  27.  Gal. 
iii.  28.  1  Tim.  iv.  6.  vi.  4.  20,  21.  2  Tim.  i.  13.  Phil.  i.  27. 
2  Cor.  xiii.  11.  Jude  19. 


16  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G01. 

in  their  own  eyes.  The  former,  then,,  was  the 
position  of  the  well-wishers  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, the  latter  that  of  those  who  were  preparing 
the  way  for  its  overthrow :  the  former  was  advo- 
cated by  those  who  defended  order  and  primitive 
truth,  the  latter  by  those  who  were  on  the  point  of 
holding  out  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  novelty 
and  fanaticism.  Laud  hesitated  not  for  a  moment 
to  decide ;  and  his  memory  does  truly  deserve  well 
of  the  Church  of  England,  since  he  so  early  avowed 
himself  the  bold  defender  of  its  constitutions. 

Nor  was  it  long  before  Laud  had  an  opportunity 
of  displaying  his  sentiments.  Upon  this  subject, 
however,  it  is  necessary  to  go  a  little  into  detail, 
more  especially  as  it  will  serve  to  explain  the  oppo- 
sition which  he  encountered.  During  the  Marian 
persecution,  as  it  is  termed,  Laurence  Humphries, 
Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  having  been 
deprived  of  his  fellowship  for  his  attachment  to  the 
Reformation,  retreated  to  the  city  of  Zurich,  in 
Switzerland,  then  famous  as  the  birth-place  and  re- 
sidence of  Zuinglius.  Associating  with  that  Re- 
former, and  maintaining  a  constant  correspondence 
with  Calvin  and  his  friends  at  Geneva,  he  became 
so  much  attached  to  the  Calvinistic  tenets,  that,  on 
his  return  to  England  after  the  death  of  Mary,  he 
studied  to  promote  them  with  all  his  influence. 
"  The  best  that  could  be  said  of  him,"  says  Dr. 
Heylin1,  "by  one  who  commonly  speaks  well  of 

•    :...:  I*     »?    ,'fll    '  •    •     .'     -O.v     •%' mVf      «^J    ''{  /   .  'I.  .2V. 

1  Life  of  Laud,  p.  46. 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  17 

all  that  party,  is,  that  he  was  a  moderate  and  con- 
scientious nonconformist1!'  As  he  was  a  man  of 
very  great  learning2,  on  his  return  from  his  exile 
he  was  presented  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the  Pre- 
sidency of  Magdalen  College,  and  was  also  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Theology,  and  Vice-chancellor 
of  the  University.  The  duties  of  this  office  he  dis- 
charged till  1596,  about  which  time  it  is  supposed 
he  died 3.  With  these  advantages,  his  influence  was 
great  in  the  University,  nor  was  he  idle  in  dissemi- 
nating the  tenets  which  he  had  imbibed  while  in 
exile.  Hence,  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Hum- 
phries, Magdalen  College  became  a  nursery  of 
non-conformity,  and  those  students  were  only  no- 
ticed who  were  zealous  supporters  of  the  dogmas  of 
Calvin.  It  would  appear  that  he  coincided  with 
some  of  that  school  who  positively  deny  that 
Papists  are  Christians,  or  that  there  can  be  any 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  lib.  ix.  p.  234. 

2  "  He  was  master,"  says  Heylin,  "  of  a  pure  Latin  style." 
Heylin,  ut  sup. 

3  The  year  of  this  learned  man's  death,  however,  is  uncer- 
tain.    Fuller,  in  his  Church  History  of  Britain,  (lib.  ix.  p.  233, 
234.  London,  folio,  1655.)  says,  "  Here  I  am  at  a  loss  for  the 
death  of  Laurence  Humphries,  but  confident  I  hit  the  but, 
though  miss  the  mark,  at  about  this  time,  (1596).     He  was  a 
conscientious    and    moderate  Nonconformist,   (condemned  for 
lukewarm  by  such  as  were  scalding  hot)  Dean  of  Winchester, 
and  Master  of  Magdalene  College  in  Oxford,  to  which  he  be- 
queathed a  considerable  sum  of  gold,  left  in  a  chest,  not  to  be 
opened  unless  some  great  necessity  urged  it  thereto." 

VOL.  I.  C 


18  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

good  in  their  corrupt  and  degenerate  Church1.  For 
his  anti-popish  zeal  he  was  jocularly  surnamed 
Papisto-Mastix. 

Dr.  Humphries  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  Hol- 
land, Ptector  of  Exeter  College,  who,  though  a  man 
of  much  greater  moderation,  was  strongly  inclined 
to  the  tenets  of  the  Puritans.  But,  zealous  as  Dr. 
Humphries  had  been  against  every  thing,  whether 
good  or  bad,  which  was  observed  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  it  would  appear  that  he  found  an  active 
assistant  in  the  Lady  Margaret  Professor  of  Divi- 
nity 2.  Yet  even  he  was  thought  to  be  deficient  in 
zeal ;  and  accordingly,  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  the 
principal  Secretary  of  State,  who  favoured  the  Non- 
conformists, founded  a  new  theological  lecture  in 
the  University 3.  The  reader  of  this  lecture  was  re- 
quired to  make  short  annotations  on  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures, in  order  that  the  students  might  be  induced 
to  pursue  their  researches 4.  Whitgift  was  then 
primate,  whose  character  for  mildness,  firmness, 
and  moderation,  is  most  conspicuous  in  those 
troublous  times.  By  his  judicious  conduct  he  had 

1  Heylin,  p.  46.     "  He  did  not  only  stock  his  college  with 
such  a  generation  of  Non-conformists,  as  could  not  be  wormed 
out  in  many  years  after  his  decease,  but  sowed  in  the  divinity 
schools  such  seeds  of  Calvinism,  and  laboured  to  create  in  the 
younger  students  such  a  strong  hate  against  the  Papists,  as  if 
nothing  but  divine  truth  were  to  be  found  in  the  one,  and  no- 
thing but  abominations  in  the  other." 

2  Heylin'sLife  of  Laud,  p.  46. 

3  Heylin,  ut  sup.     Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  597. 

4  Collier,  ut  sup. 

7 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  19 

brought  over  many  Roman  Catholics  to  the  Church 
of  England ;  but  he  was  completely  unsuccessful  in 
his  attempts  to  restrain  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Puri- 
tans1. Before  his  promotion,  he  had  engaged  in 
dispute  with  the  celebrated  Puritan  leader,  Thomas 
Cart wright  of  Cambridge,  and  had  written  an  an- 
swer to  the  Admonition  of  that  zealot ;  to  which 
Cartwright  wrote  a  reply.  Whitgift  rejoined  in 
the  following  year,  (1571),  in  a  work  entitled,  "  A 
Defence  of  the  Answer."  "  To  which,"  observes 
Collier,  "  Cartwright  offered  nothing,  but  retired 
from  the  field,  and  left  the  enemy  possessed  of  all 
the  entire  marks  of  victory2."  Walsingham,  who 
had  already  signalised  himself  by  his  opposition  to 
the  subscription  of  three  articles,  which  had  been 
enacted  "  for  the  better  increase  of  learning  in  the 
inferior  ministers,  and  for  the  more  diligent  preach- 
ing and  catechizing 3,"  and  which  are  in  themselves 
truly  admirable,  as  he  was  a  resolute  friend  to  the 
Puritans,  and  had,  besides,  engaged  in  other  dis- 
putes, in  which  he  always  advocated  the  cause  of 
his  dissenting  friends,  instituted  this  lecture  not  so 
much  out  of  a  pure  desire  to  foster  and  encourage 
learning,  as  to  make  it  subservient  to  the  schemes 
of  the  Puritans,  and  to  irritate  and  insult  the  fallen 
Roman  Catholics  *.  And  that  this  might  be  the  more 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  684. 

2  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  537. 

3  Register,  Whitgift,  Part  I.  fol.  97. 131.  162. 

Strype's  Annals  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  vol.  ii.  ;  also  Lives  of 
Archbishops  Parker  and  Whitgift.  Collier,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii. 

c  2 


20  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

effectually  promoted,  the  celebrated  Dr.  John  Rey- 
nolds, President  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  who 
afterwards  distinguished  himself  in  the  dispute  held 
at  Hampton  Court,  before  King  James,  in  1603-4, 
was  appointed  to  the  lectureship.  Reynolds,  though 
now  a  violent  enemy  to  Popery,  and  to  the  hierarchy 
in  general,  had  been  in  his  youth  on  the  continent, 
and,  during  his  residence  there  was  devoted  in  his 
attachment  to  Popery ;  but  having  been  drawn  over 
to  the  Church  of  England  by  his  brother,  who  himself 
recanted l,  he  fell  into  the  other  extreme,  and  resolved 
rlfr  1  )  I  .  ' •'•'  '  '  •'•  -  -  • 

p.  597.  Wood,  Hist,  and  Antiq.  Oxon.  Heylin,  ut  sup.  The  last 
writer  says,  that  Walsingham  was  "  a  man  of  great  abilities  in 
the  schools  of  policy,  an  extreme  hater  of  the  Popes  and 
Church  of  Rome,  and  no  less  favourable  unto  those  of  the  Pu- 
ritan faction."  It  would  appear  that  the  lecture  was  well  at- 
tended by  the  younger  students  ;  but  its  object  was  censured 
by  many,  and  even  by  some  of  the  moderate  Puritans,  who,  sus- 
pecting Walsingham's  motives,  "  ventured  to  say,  that  the  pre- 
tence of  propagating  truth,  was  only  a  colour  to  convey  Wal- 
singham's sacrilege  out  of  sight.  For  this  gentleman,  it  seems, 
during  the  vacancy  of  the  see  of  Oxford,  had  lopped  the  reve- 
nues." Collier,  ut  sup. 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  47.  Dr.  Reynolds' 
brother,  William  Reynolds,  had  been  as  resolute  a  Protestant  as 
he  was  a  Papist.  A  mutual  disputation  took  place  between  them 
on  the  articles  of  their  faith,  which  ended  in  the  Papist  turning 
Protestant,  and  the  Protestant  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  which 
he  died.  "  This  singular  occurrence,"  says  Fuller,  "  gave  the 
occasion  to  an  excellent  copy  of  verses,  concluding  with  this 
distich : 

"  Quod  genus  hoc  pugnae  est?  ubi  victus  gaudet  uterque? 
Et  simul  alteruter  se  superdsse  dolet." 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  21 

to  exalt  himself  among  the  Puritan  enthusiasts. 
He  was,  accordingly,  high  in  favour  with  Sir  Fran- 
cis Walsingham,  who  consulted  him  on  every  occa- 
sion, and  also  with  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  Chancellor 
of  the  University,  who,  from  political  motives,  was 
sometimes  inclined  to  co-operate  with  the  malcon- 
tents l.  Reynolds  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and 
extensive  reading,  and  he  was  no  less  remarkable 
for  his  prodigious  memory 2.  His  private  character, 
too,  was  most  exemplary  and  pious,  and  he  appears 
to  have  been  very  solicitous  about  the  soundness  of 
the  doctrines  which  he  taught3. 

1  "  Divinity,"  says  Collier,  "  had  now  a  new  face  at  Oxford, 
and  the  first  reformation  was  reformed  away  in  great  measure  ;" 
ut  sup. 

2  Heylin,  ut  sup. ;  Fuller,  ut  sup.  p.  48 ;  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon. ; 
Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans. 

3  There  seem  to  be  different  opinions  concerning  Dr.  Rey- 
nolds.    Collier  says,  "  As  for  Dr.  Reynolds,  he  made  it  his  busi- 
ness to  read  against  the  hierarchy,  and  to  weaken  the  authority 
of  bishops."     Fuller,  on  the  other  hand,  asserts,  that  he,  of  all 
the  Puritans,  was  most  conformable  in  his  practice  to  the  Church 
of  England.     "  His  disaffection,"  says  he,  "  to  the  discipline 
established  in  England,  was  not  so  great  as  some  bishops  did 
suspect,  or  as  some  Nonconformists  did  believe.     No  doubt  he 
desired  the  abolishing  of  some  ceremonies,  for  the  care  of  the 
conscience  of  others,  to  which  in  his  own  practice  he  did  willingly 
submit,  constantly  wearing  hood  and  surplice,  and  kneeling  at 
the  Sacrament."     In  opposition  to  this  testimony,  however,  re- 
specting the  ecclesiastical  habit,  Heylin  asserts,  (p.  47),  that 
"  Dr.  Reynolds  had  the  confidence  to  appear  in  the  conference  at 
Hampton  Court  [in  1603]  in  his  Turkey  gown,  and  therefore 
may  be  thought  to  have  worn  no  other  in  the  University."     It  is 
a  singular  fact,  at  the  same  time,  that  Dr.  Reynolds  on  his  death- 


22  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

Under  the  auspices  of  those  and  other  leaders  of 
the  Puritans,  the  tenets  of  Geneva  were  making 
rapid  progress  in  the  University,  engendering  the 
most  novel  speculations  about  the  Church,  and 
producing  a  general  carelessness  about  its  consti- 
tution, which  threatened  to  sap  its  very  foundation. 
Forgetting  the  moderation  and  admirable  caution 
of  the  great  men  under  whose  auspices  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England  had  been  conducted, 
they  seemed  as  if  they  had  themselves  determined 
to  commence  a  new  reformation,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  admitted,  that  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  Reformed  Church  and  that  of  Rome 
was  broad  and  insurmountable.  Nor  was  their  po- 
licy the  less  crafty  than  their  general  conduct ;  for 
since  they  well  knew  that,  were  they  to  make  any 
notorious  innovation  at  once,  they  would  be  pu- 
nished by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power  as  dis- 
turbers of  the  peace  of  the  realm,  their  sole  hope 
lay  in  biassing  the  minds  of  the  students  in  the  Uni- 
versity, over  whom  they  were  placed ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  they  merely  corresponded  about  their 
differences  with  their  friends  among  the  laity  who 
were  in  power  and  influence.  Now  it  was,  indeed, 
that  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  founded 

bed,  at  his  own  earnest  request,  received  absolution,  according 
to  the  form  of  the  Church  of  England.  "  He  received  it,"  says 
Fuller,  "  from  Dr.  Holland,  [the  successor  of  Dr.  Humphries, 
who  was  himself  inclined,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  to  Non- 
conformity,] whose  hand  he  affectionately  kissed,  in  expression 
of  the  joy  he  received  thereby." 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  23 

on  holy  Scripture,  were  not  only  disputed,  but  po- 
sitively denied.  The  opinions  of  Calvin  respecting 
predestination,  reprobation,  election,  and  all  the 
other  kindred  dogmas,  were  zealously  maintained, 
although  their  defenders  might  have  known  that, 
besides  looking  in  vain  for  Calvin's  horribile  decre- 
tum  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  the  fathers,  with  the 
exception  of  St.  Augustine,  and  his  two  disciples, 
Prosper  and  Fulgentius,  never  conceived  such  tenets, 
so  far  as  individuals  are  concerned ;  and  perhaps  in 
this  view  even  St.  Augustine  himself  may  not  be 
conceded l.  The  doctrine  of  Scripture  and  of  the 
Church  respecting  regeneration  in  infant  baptism 
was  denied,  as  was  also  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
respecting  the  holy  Eucharist.  It  was  absolutely 
denied,  that  either  of  these  sacred  rites  had  any 
efficacy  in  man's  salvation.  The  article  in  the 
Apostle's  Creed  respecting  Christ's  local  descent 
into  hell,  asserted  in  the  Convocations  of  the  Church 
in  1552  and  1562,  was  disclaimed  as  erroneous, 
merely,  as  Dr.  Heylin  well  remarks,  "  because  re- 
pugnant to  the  fancies  of  some  foreign  divines, 
though  they  were  in  dispute  among  themselves 
about  the  meaning  of  it 2."  The  episcopal  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  was  held  to  be  against  the 

1  Prosper  confesses,  that  they  who  condemned  Pelagianism, 
rejected  St.  Augustine's  notion  as  a  mere  novelty;  and  that 
Father  himself  says,  "  It  is  the  height  of  madness  and  injustice 
to  hold  any  person  guilty  because  he  did  not  that  which  he 
could  not  do." 

2  See  the  great  work,  Bishop  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  folio. 


24  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  apostolic  and  pri- 
mitive times,  and  this,  too,  by  men  who  were  conver- 
sant with  the  apostles  and  fathers.  Presbyters  and 
bishops  were  held  to  be  synonymous,  and  the  falla- 
cious doctrine  of  expediency  in  church  government 
was  assumed,  it  being  asserted,  that  the  apostles 
did  not  trouble  themselves  about  ecclesiastical 
polity ;  the  doctrine  of  the  visibility  of  the  Church 
was  disclaimed,  and  sectarian  conventicles  were 
held  to  be  as  scriptural  as  the  Church,  though  these, 
it  was  evident,  were  all  founded  on  the  visions  of 
enthusiasts,  and  false  positions  erroneously  drawn 
from  holy  Scripture.  The  Pope  was  furiously  de- 
clared to  be  Antichrist ;  the  ordination  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  was  pronounced  invalid,  as  part  of 
"  the  mark  of  the  beast."  These  and  other  such 
opinions  were  <e  as  positively  and  magisterially 
maintained,  as  if  they  had  been  the  chief  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith1."  The  public  services  of  the 
Church,  according  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
were  either  carelessly  performed,  or  neglected  ;  of- 
fence was  taken  at  every  sacred  rite  and  ceremony 
which  had  been  practised  since  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tles. "  In  a  word,"  to  quote  from  Heylin 2  on  this 
very  subject,  "  the  books  of  Calvin  made  the  rule 
by  which  all  men  were  to  square  their  writings,  his 
only  word  (like  the  ipse  dixit  of  Aristotle)  ad- 
mitted as  the  sole  canon  to  which  they  were  to 

1  Heylin,  p.  47. 

3  See  also  the  Preface  to  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 


1601.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  25 

frame  and  conform  their  judgments,  and  in  compa- 
rison to  whom,  the  ancient  fathers  of  the  Church, 
men  of  renown,  and  the  glory  of  their  several  times, 
must  be  held  contemptible  :  and  to  offend  against 
this  canon,  or  to  break  this  rule,  was  esteemed  a 
more  unpardonable  crime,  than  to  violate  the  apos- 
tles' canons,  or  dispute  the  doctrines  and  determi- 
nations of  any  of  the  four  first  General  Councils  ;  so 
that  it  might  have  proved  more  safe  for  any  man,  in 
such  a  general  deviation  from  the  rules  and  dictates 
of  this  Church,  to  have  been  looked  upon  as  an 
heathen  or  a  publican,  than  an  anti-Calvinist." 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood,  in  the  preceding 
remarks,  as  if  I  have  given  only  a  partial  view  of  the 
lamentable  state  to  which  ecclesiastical  discipline 
was  reduced  towards  the  last  years  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  Church  of  England  has 
been  justly  called  the  great  bulwark  of  the  Protes- 
tant Reformation  ;  and  why,  it  is  asked,  has  it  re- 
ceived this  glorious  appellation  ?  ,  Not  certainly 
because,  in  its  resolution  to  separate  from  Rome, 
it  was  actuated,  in  the  persons  of  its  venerable 
reformers,  by  mean  and  sinister  motives,  for  they 
nobly  sealed  their  attachment  to  the  truth  with  their 
blood;  nor  yet,  by  trampling  upon  every  sacred 
and  venerable  institution,  as  if,  after  having  been 
long  in  one  extreme,  it  was  determined  to  run  into 
the  other,  and,  by  making  a  total  divestment  of 
faith  and  sense,  reduce  religion  to  a  pyebald  exte- 
rior, presenting  no  counteraction  to  the  effusions  of 
fanaticism  and  ignorance,  no  means  to  preserve  true 


26  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1601. 

religion  within  its  pale,  apart  from  the  individual 
opinions  of  men,  even  supposing  that  its  clergy 
were  simultaneously  to  become  degenerate ;  nor 
yet  by  resigning  the  practice  of  the  Church  uni- 
versal in  all  ages,  and  closing  with,  novelty,  as  if 
anxious  for  new  discoveries.  Novelty  in  theology 
is  the  certain  indication  of  error ;  nor  would  the 
Church  have  appeared,  as  it  does  to  this  day,  vener- 
able in  its  institutions,  and  simple  in  its  ritual,  had 
it  so  far  wandered  from  the  right  path.  But  Eliza- 
beth was  now  in  the  decline  of  life,  and  the  death 
of  the  unfortunate  Essex  had  reduced  her  vigorous 
mind  to  a  state  of  imbecility.  Enthusiasm  was,  in 
consequence,  making  rapid  progress  at  the  accession 
of  James.  The  Calvinism  of  Geneva  had  disgusted 
that  monarch  in  Scotland,  insolently  as  it  was  advo- 
cated by  the  Melvilles  and  their  associates.  It 
was  highly  necessary,  therefore,  that  James  should 
take  measures,  on  his  accession  to  the  English 
throne,  to  oppose  that  insolent  fanaticism  which 
had  been  secretly  kindling  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple for  half  a  century,  and  disturbing  the  peace  of 
the  Church  by  every  new  importation  of  zealots 
from  the  school  of  Geneva.  Nor,  while  thus  speak- 
ing of  the  dogmas  of  Calvin,  and  the  grand  features 
of  Presbyterianism,  would  I  be  thought  wanting  in 
respect  to  those  who  differed  from  us.  I  speak  of 
systems  only,  not  of  individuals,  excepting  so  far  as 
their  public  conduct  is  concerned.  Our  Church 
has  been  incessantly  attacked,  but  we  are  unwilling 
to  retaliate,  while  we  know  the  sure  ground  on 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  27 

which  we  tread.  "  Having  a  sure  and  certain  word 
of  prophecy,  unto  which  it  will  be  well  for  us  to 
take  heed,"  we  reject  the  fallacious  doctrine  of  ex- 
pediency, and  assert  with  confidence  the  constant 
visibility  and  oneness  of  the  Church  in  all  ages, 
from  the  days  of  its  Divine  Founder.  Nor  need 
the  authorities  on  which  our  positions  are  grounded, 
be  required  of  us  :  even  Calvin  himself  could  not 
reconcile  them  to  his  own  opinions  l.  To  the  merit 
of  that  reformer,  indeed,  I  willingly  bear  testi- 
mony :  his  learning  is  indisputable,  he  was  a  great 
man ;  but  the  same  spirit  which  prompted  him  to 
pursue  the  mild,  though  mistaken,  Servetus  to  the 
stake,  was  too  amply  inherited  by  his  disciples  both 
in  England  and  Scotland,  in  the  sixteenth  and  se- 
venteenth centuries ;  by  which  the  frenzy  of  a 
stern  republicanism  overthrew  the  government  of 
the  land,  and,  even  after  it  was  re-established,  in- 
volved the  northern  part  of  the  island  in  rebellion 
and  bloodshed.  The  opinions  he  taught,  as  he  con- 
ceived them  to  be  derived  from  the  Scriptures,  re- 
quire other  proof  than  that  which  he  furnishes  :  and 
those  do  greatly  err,  who  believe  them  to  be  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England.  That  Church, 
it  is  consolatory  to  know,  takes  a  much  higher 
authority,  and  by  the  holy  Scriptures  it  stands  or 
falls. 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  the  Church  in  the 
years  1602-3,  when  Laud  made  his  first  public  ap- 

\ ;- "  ^1  ^nil 
1  Calvin,  Institut.  lib.  iv.  cap.  iv.  §  1. 


28  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

pearance^  Many  of  the  original  n on -confer mist 
leaders  were  now  dead,  but  some  of  them  still  sur- 
vived. They  wanted  not,  however,  successors  to 
tread  in  the  same  path.  The  celebrated  Abbott !, 
afterwards  primate,  and  Prideaux,  who  succeeded 
Drs.  Holland  and  Reynolds  as  theological  profes- 
sors, taught  the  tenets  of  their  predecessors,  and 
warmly  attached  themselves  to  the  Puritans 2.  In 
the  year  1602,  Laud  read  the  divinity  lecture  in 
St.  John's  College,  founded  by  Mrs.  Maye3,  and 
received  the  general  applause  of  that  society.  In 
this  lecture,  he  boldly  advocated  those  opinions 
which  he  ever  afterwards  maintained.  It  would 
appear  that  he  had  long  beheld,  with  deep  regret, 
the  dangerous  tendency  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
times  ;  and  he  resolved,  though  he  stood  alone,  to 
raise  his  solitary  voice  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  England.  He  had  studied  the  fa- 
thers with  peculiar  care,  and  had  made  himself 
master  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  as  set 
forth  during  the  apostolic  and  primitive  times  in  the 
canons  of  the  general  councils.  His  theological 
studies  had  been  founded  on  the  sacred  canon, 
carefully  perusing  at  the  same  time  the  comments 
and  interpretations  of  the  fathers ;  and  his  vigorous 

i 

1  He  was  then  Master  of  University  College,  and  Vice-chan- 
cellor of  the  University. 

8  Original  Manuscript  of  Dr.  Heylin,  Lansdowne  MSS.  721. 

3  He  was  the  last  who  read  that  lecture.  Diary,  p.  2  ;  Hey- 
lin, p.  49 ;  Lloyd's  Memoirs,  p.  226  ;  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  vol. 
iii.  col.  121. 


1608.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  29 

mind  enabled  him  at  once  to  perceive  the  errors 
which  the  ancient  heretics  and  modern  schismatics 
had  imbibed,  by  their  attempts  at  private  interpreta- 
tion of  the  canon  of  inspiration  :  a  practice  which  is 
unhappily  too  prevalent  among  their  successors  in 
the  present  times.  He  was  not  to  be  led  astray  by 
the  names  of  men,  however  great  and  renowned,  and 
he  was  determined  to  oppose  those  novelties  in  theo- 
logy, which  were  daily  becoming  more  prevalent. 
Fortified  as  he  was  by  the  canons  of  the  Church, 
and,  above  all,  by  holy  Scripture,  he  resolved  "  to 
hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words"  which  had  been 
delivered ;  and,  solitary  as  he  stood  in  this  perilous 
undertaking,  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  wrork,  and  to 
leave  the  issue  thereof  unto  God,  by  whom  "  Paul's 
planting  and  Apollo's  watering  do  receive  the 
increase  V 

On  no  subject,  perhaps,  has  there  been  greater 
dispute  than  on  the  meaning  of  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  While  the  zealous  Puritan 
rejected  them  in  toto,  both  because  they  were  not 
sufficiently  Calvinistic  to  suit  his  notions,  and  be- 
cause they  contained  that  form  of  ecclesiastical  po- 
lity which  he  abhorred ;  the  Calvinist,  on  the  one 
hand,  who  wished  not  to  leave  the  Church,  disco- 
vered them  to  be  thoroughly  Calvinistic,  and  was 

1  Dr.  Heylin,  p.  48.  "  Nor  would  he  run  precipitately  into 
common  opinions,  (for  common  opinions  many  times  are  but 
common  errors) ;  as  Calderinus  is  reported  to  have  gone  to 
mass,  because  he  would  not  break  company  with  the  rest  of  his 
friends." 


30  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

content ;  the  Arminian  loudly  asserted,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  they  contained  the  doctrines  and  tenets 
of  Arminius,  and  cordially  subscribed  to  them.  Such 
was  the  procedure  in  the  time  of  Laud,  and  such 
it  is  in  the  present  day.  Now,  keeping  out  of  view 
the  Puritan  and  the  modern  Dissenter  as  completely 
hopeless  subjects,  or,  in  other  words,  as  men  be- 
yond the  reach  of  argument  or  reason,  nothing  is 
more  evident  than  that  both  the  Calvinist  and  Ar- 
minian are  decidedly  wrong.  The  Articles  are  ex- 
pressed with  such  clearness,  that  he  who  candidly 
peruses  them,  and  is  gifted  with  an  ordinary  share 
of  reason,  cannot  fail  to  perceive  their  meaning, 
and  to  acquiesce  at  once  in  their  decisions ;  but  it 
is  most  absurd  to  say  that  they  are  founded  upon, 
or  that  they  favour,  the  individual  theories  either  of 
John  Calvin  or  of  James  Arminius.  A  division  has 
indeed  taken  place  in  the  Church  in  modern  times, 
and  an  unaccountable  zeal  has  now  decided  that 
the  orthodox  clergy  are  the  Calvinists  :  those  who 
deny  Calvin's  tenets  being  of  course  anti-evange- 
lical. Yet,  if  the  test  of  evangelism  be  the  rash 
assumptions  of  the  predestinarian,  most  unquestion- 
ably that  evangelism  rests  upon  a  feeble  foundation, 
and  they  do  greatly  err  whose  zeal  is  thus  per- 
mitted to  triumph  over  their  reason.  But  the 
Church  of  England  at  once  disdains  a  blind  vene- 
ration for  any  frail  and  erring  mortal,  however 
great  or  excellent  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow  men. 
That  the  Articles  of  the  Church  are  not  Calvinistic, 
I  hope  to  shew  in  another  place ;  and  that  they  are 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  31 

not  Arminian,  I  here  assert,  inasmuch  as  the  tenets 
of  Arminius  were  not  propagated  until  a  long  time 
after  these  Articles  were  compiled  \  But  if  by  Ar- 
minian  (for  language  is  arbitrary,  and  it  matters 
not  what  may  be  the  name,  however  odious  that 
name  may  be  to  the  descendants  of  the  champions  of 
the  Covenant  in  the  north) — if,  I  say,  by  Arminian, 
it  be  meant,  that  the  Church  of  England  in  its 
Articles,  not  in  its  clergy,  rejects  and  disapproves 
a  rash  inquiry  into  those  "  secret  things  which  be- 
long unto  the  Lord  our  God,"  if  it  rejects  the 
liorribile  de  ere  turn  of  Calvin,  on  whose  shewing,  to 
adopt  the  language  of  John  Wesley,  "  the  elect 
will  be  saved,  do  what  they  will;  the  reprobate 
will  be  damned,  do  what  they  can,"  and  in  all  its 
public  ministrations,  formularies,  articles,  rituals, 
and  homilies,  asserts,  that  every  man,  without  excep- 
tion, who  hears  the  glad  sound  of  the  gospel,  may 
become  a  partaker  of  the  same,  and  a  true  mem- 
ber of  Christ's  body,  as  he  did  become  in  infancy  by 
"  the  washing  of  water  and  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,"— if,  in  short,  it  is  the  constant  theme 
of  the  Church  that  "  he  who  cometh  unto  God,  will 
in  no  wise  be  cast  out,"  and  if  its  ministers  are  com- 
manded to  call  on  all  men  every  where  to  repent, 
without  any  reservation  of  election  or  reprobation, 

1  James  Van  Harmen,  or  Arminius,  was  the  disciple  of 
Beza,  and  minister  at  Amsterdam.  He  was  at  first  educated  in 
rigid  Calvinism,  but  on  reflection,  he  expressed  doubts  as  to 
that  system  in  1591.  The  Articles  were  compiled  almost  half 
a  century  previous. 


32  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

then  let  it  be  called  Arminian,  for  such  is  the  doctrine 
of  Holy  Scripture.  And  if  the  Episcopal  government 
of  the  Church  be  taken  into  account,  in  opposition 
to  the  Calvinistic  system  of  ecclesiastical  parity,  by 
which  the  unedifying  sight  has  often  been  exhibited, 
of  preachers  at  war  with  one  another,  without  a  head 
to  control  them,  or  to  impose  on  them  ecclesiastical 
obedience,  then  let  it  be  Arminian,  it  matters  riot, 
since  the  polity  which  is  enjoined  and  practised, 
has  been  that  of  the  Church  in  every  age,  since  the 
days  of  its  divine  Founder. 

When  Laud,  therefore,  stepped  boldly  forth  to 
vindicate  the  Articles  and  Constitution  of  the 
Church,  against  the  fancies  and  enthusiasm  of  her 
Puritan  members,  those  Articles  "  had  been  wrested 
from  the  literal  and  grammatical  sense,  to  fit  them 
to  the  sense  of  particular  persons,"  and  "a  differ- 
ent construction  had  been  put  upon .  them  from 
that  which  had  been  the  true  and  genuine  meaning 
of  the  men  that  framed  them,  and  the  authority 
which  had  confirmed  them."  It  was  either  in  this 
lecture, ,  or  in  some  other  academical  exercise,  that 
Laud  asserted  and  maintained  the  perpetual  visibi- 
lity of  the  Church,  as  derived  from  the  apostles  by 
the  Romish  Church,  and  therein  continued  (as  in  the 
Churcr/es  of  the  East  and  South)  until  the  period 
of  the  Reformation1.  This  lecture  gave  great  of- 
fence to  the  Puritans  of  the  University.  Abbot, 

1  It  is  uncertain  whether  it  was  in  this  lecture  or  not ;  but  the 
conjecture  is  probably  right  that  it  was.  Heylin,  p.  49.  Diary, 
p.  2.  Wood,  Athen,  Oxon.  vol.  iii,  col.  121. 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  33 

the  vice-chancellor,  who  was  secretly  jealous  of  him, 
and  who  liked  not  to  be  surpassed  in  learning  by  a 
person  who  was  under  his  control,  was  of  a  differ- 
ent opinion, — which,  indeed,  was  natural,  consider- 
ing his  attachment  to  the  Puritan  faction.  He 
asserted,  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  was  no  de- 
finite visibility  of  the  Church ;  and,  forgetting  the 
axiom,  that  a  corrupt  Church  may  be  nevertheless 
a  true  one,  so  far  as  ordination  is  concerned,  out 
of  his  zealous  abhorrence  to  popery,  he  yet  traced 
a  visibility  from  the  time  of  the  apostles  to  the 
sect  called  Berengerians,  the  followers  of  Berenge- 
rius,  who  flourished  in  the  eleventh  century1,  from 
them  to  the  Albigenses,  or  Waldenses,  so  called  from 
the  city  Albi,  or  the  district  of  Albigeois,  in  the 
south  of  France,  supposed  by  Toplady  and  others 
to  have  been  the  uncorrupted  descendants  of  the 
first  Christians,  but  whose  creed  was  pronounced 
by  the  Council  of  Tours,  A.D.  1163,  to  be  "  a 
damnable  heresy,  long  since  sprung  up  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Toulouse  V  From  them,  again,  to  the 
Wickliffites,  or  Lollards,  the  followers  of  Wick- 
liffe,  the  proto-reformer  of  England,  and  the 
"  morning-star  of  the  English  Reformation,"  from 

1  Mosheim's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  558—560.     Milner's 
Church  Hist.  vol.  iii.  p.  289 — 291. 

2  Mr.  Hume  (History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  chap,  xi.)   ob- 
serves, that  the  decree  of  this  council  so  subjected  them  to  perse- 
cution, that  "  those  sectaries,  though  the  most  innocent  and  in- 
offensive of  mankind,  were  exterminated  with  all  the  circum- 
stances of  extreme  violence  and  barbarity." 

VOL.   I.  D 


34  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [160*. 

them  to  the  Hussites,  whose  leader,  John  Huss, 
adopted  Wickliffe's  opinions,  for  which  he  suffered 
martyrdom  in  the  year  1415  \  and  from  them  to  the 
days  of  Martin  Luther  and  John  Calvin.  This 
fanciful  hypothesis,  which  Abbot  assumed,  was  com- 
pletely refuted  by  Laud;  which  so  enraged  the 
former,  and  excited  so  much  mutual  disgust,  that 
an  enmity  took  place,  which  ever  afterwards  sub- 
sisted between  them 2 :  and  so  violent  was  Abbot's 
antipathy  to  his  opponent,  that  he  embraced  every 
opportunity  of  displaying  his  opposition,  which  hap- 
pened more  than  once  in  after  life 3. 

1  Mosheim's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  p.  384 ;  vol.  v.  p.  117. 
Milner,  vol.  iv.  p.  279,  280.  597. 

2  Heylin,  p.  49.     Original  Manuscript  of  Dr.  Heylin,  Lans- 
downe  MSS.  721.     Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.   p.  440. 
"  Abbot  wrote  a  work  on  the  subject,  entitled,  *  A  Treatise  of 
perpetual  Visibility  and  Succession  of  the  True  Church  in  all 
Ages.'     London,  4to.  1624.     He  was  then  in  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury.    His  name  is  not  at  the  work,  but  only  his  family  arms, 
impaled  with  those  of  Canterbury."     Dr.  Heylin,  who,  by  the 
way,  was  no  friend  to  Abbot,  remarks  on  this  work,  "  This  being 
his  opinion  also  when  he  lived  in  Oxford,  he  thought  it  a  great 
derogation  to  his  parts  and  credit,  that  any  man  should  dare  to 
maintain  the  contrary,  and  thereupon  conceived  a  strong  grudge 
against  Laud,  which  no  tract  of  time  could  either  abolish  or 
diminish."     It  would  appear,  however,   that  some  differences 
had  taken  place  between  him  and  Laud  as  early  as  1597. 

3  Abbot,  says  an  author,  conceived  a  very  strong  prejudice 
against  Mr.  Laud,  which  no  time  could  either  lessen  or  destroy. 
Although  Abbot  was  a  great  and  good  man,  it  is  certain  that  he 
entertained  a  violent  hatred  to  Laud,  and  it  so  far  influenced  him, 
as  to  make  him  in  after  life  give  Laud  a  most  unfavourable  cha- 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  35 

That  Abbot,  if  he  defended  the  visibility  of  the 
Church  at  all,  was  wrong  in  his  positions,  and  fan- 
ciful in  his  illustrations,  is  sufficiently  evident  from 
the  incongruous  nature  of  those  sects  amongst 
whom  he  traced  that  visibility.  For,  though  Be- 
rengerius  was  Archdeacon  of  Angers,  he  died  in 
the  communion  of  the  Romish  Church,  after  making 
a  public  recantation  of  his  opinions,  both  at  Paris 
and  Rome  l.  His  followers,  therefore,  had  no  re- 
gularly ordained  pastors,  and,  besides,  they  were 

racter,  which  could  only  result  from  a  recollection  of  the  opposi- 
tion he  had  received.  In  the  Archbishop's  narrative  concerning 
his  disgrace  at  court,  written  by  himself,  (Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p. 
434,  &c.)  he  talks  about  "  knowing  in  general  the  disposition  of 
the  man,"  p.  439  ;  and  again,  "  about  the  dispute  between  the 
King  and  himself,"  Bishop  Laud  is  designated  "  the  only  in- 
ward counsellor  with  Buckingham,  sitting  with  him  sometimes 
privately  whole  hours,  and  feeding  his  humours  with  malice  and 
spite.  His  life  in  Oxford  was  to  pick  quarrels  in  the  lectures 
of  the  public  readers,  and  to  advertise  them  to  the  then  Bishop 
of  Durham,  that  he  might  fill  the  ears  of  King  James  with  dis- 
content against  the  honest  men  that  took  pains  in  their  places,  and 
settled  the  truth,  which  he  called  Puritanism,  in  their  auditors. 
He  made  it  his  work  to  see  what  books  were  on  the  press,  and  to 
look  over  epistles  dedicatory,  and  prefaces  to  the  reader,  to  see 
what  faults  might  be  found,"  p.  440.  That  this  is  over-coloured 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  when  we  recollect  Abbot's  feelings  to- 
wards Laud,  whom  he  secretly  charged  as  helping  to  procure 
his  disgrace. 

He  died,  moreover,  firm  in  his  belief  of  transubstantiation. 
He  maintained  the  doctrines  of  the  famous  Duns  Scotus,  sur- 
named  Erigena.  'Although  the  Church  of  Rome  in  his  time 
(1058)  had  not  adopted  any  particular  doctrine  on  the  Eucharist, 
his  heresy  was  condemned. 

D  2 


36  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

in  dispute  amongst  themselves  about  the  eucharist, 
all  agreeing  that  the  elements  were  not  essentially 
changed,  though  some  asserted  that  they  were 
partly  changed.  "  Some  admitted  a  change  in 
part,  and  others  an  entire  change,  with  this  re- 
striction, that  to  those  who  communicated  unwor- 
thily the  elements  were  changed  back  again  V  The 
Waldenses  had  for  their  apostle  Peter  Waldo,  or 
Valdo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons,  who,  whether  he  gave 
his  name  to  them  or  not,  never  received  the  ordi- 
nation of  a  priest.  It  is  not  my  intention  here  to 
enter  into  the  discussion  of  this  important  subject 
in  reference  to  those  sectaries,  nevertheless  I  may 
remark,  that  they  also  were  not  agreed  among  them- 
selves on  certain  doctrines.  They  held  various  opi- 
nions about  infant  baptism,  and  they  asserted  "that 
the  sacraments  are  signs  of  the  holy  things,  visible 
forms  of  the  invisible  grace  ;  and  that  it  is  good  for 
the  faithful  to  use  those  signs  or  visible  forms  ;  but 
they  are  not  essential  to  salvation."  The  same  tenets 
were  held  by  theWickliffites  or  Lollards,  the  Hussites, 
the  Calvinists,  and  the  Puritans,  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  as  they  are  yet  held  by  the  Dissenters  of 
almost  every  description.  Sects  which  entertained 
those  vague  and  confused  notions  on  the  holy  sa- 
craments, have  always  framed  equally  crude  ideas 
about  the  office  of  the  priesthood ;  and,  in  truth, 
they  had  no  regular  canonical  ordination,  and  cared 
little  about  the  unity  of  the  Church,  as  taught  in 

1  Williams'  Dictionary  of  all  Religions,  p.  63. 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  37 

holy  Scripture.  Now,  it  certainly  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  of  England,  that  the  sacraments  are 
not  mere  rites  or  memorials,  (for  we  can  conceive  no 
opinion  more  unworthy  of  institutions  set  apart  by 
the  Saviour  himself,)  but  are,  in  very  truth,  on 
their  right  reception,  the  ordinary  means  by  which 
men  obtain  salvation.  But  the  opposite  opinion 
was  held  by  the  Puritans,  and  sanctioned  by  Ab- 
bot, on  which  account  they  totally  misinterpreted 
those  simple  but  sacred  symbols,  and  rested  more 
on  visionary  themes  about  faith  and  other  doc- 
trines. The  view  which  Abbot  took  of  the  visi- 
bility of  the  Church,  therefore,  struck  at  the  very 
root  of  that  Church  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
and  still  farther  tended  to  promote  the  spirit  of 
dangerous  enthusiasm.  It  went  far  to  overthrow 
that  union  and  consistency  which  are  necessary  for 
the  peace  and  well-being  of  the  state  ecclesiastical, 
and  was,  in  a  word,  completely  congenial  to  the 
views  of  the  non-conformists. 

,  The  question  has  been  often  sneeringly  asked  by 
the  Romanists,  where  was  the  Protestant  Church 
before  Luther  ?  This  question  was  common  in  the 
days  of  Laud,  nor  was  it  at  all  answered  with  satis- 
faction by  the  Puritan  divines,  who  seldom  abode 
by  the  argument,  but  went  on  to  a  discussion  of 
certain  doctrines,  and  spirituality  in  matters  of  faith. 
Now,  that  these  are  all  right  in  themselves  there 
can  be  no  question,  still  there  was  another  way  in 
which  the  Romanists  might  be  silenced,  and  the 
catholic  doctrine  of  the  visibility  of  the  Church 


38  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

maintained.     This   position,   therefore,    Laud   as- 
sumed, and  he  managed  the  subject  with  the  ability 
of  a  master.     While   the  positions  of  Abbot  and 
others,  who  took  refuge  among   the  continental 
sectaries,  were  easily  overthrown  by  the  priests  and 
Jesuits ;  they  were  at  once  staggered  by  the  argu- 
ments of  a  more  powerful  opponent,  who  revelled 
not  in  an  enthusiasm  which  they  had  long  despised, 
but  successfully  opposed  them  with  the  very  autho- 
rities to  which  they  themselves  laid  claim.   The  whole 
subject  turned  on  the  nature  of  the  Church — on 
its  polity,  and  the  ordination  of  the  clergy — whether 
there  actually  existed  an  apostolical  descent,  and 
whence  it  was  transmitted.     To  deny  the  validity 
of  the  orders  of  the  Romish  Church,    is  unques- 
tionably absurd :  for,  however  corrupt  and  dege- 
nerate that  Church  is,  it  cannot  in  the  least  degree 
affect  the  ordination  it  confers.     For  if  such  were 
the  case,  there  would  then  be  a  dangerous  position 
assumed,  that  there  is  a  virtue  in  the  ordination, 
which  does  not  exist,  any  farther,  than  that  no 
man   without   that   ordination   can    lawfully   and 
scripturally  exercise   the  functions  of  the   sacred 
office :  and  that  he  who  does  so,  without  being 
lawfully  ordained  to  them,  is  actuated  by  that  sec- 
tarian fanaticism  which  deluded  multitudes  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  produced  an  anarchy  in 
the  Church  unparalleled  in  the  records  of  history. 
If  there  be  no  such  thing  as  regular  and  valid  or- 
dination, then  there  is  no  ministry,  and  it  matters 
not  how  the  sacraments  are  administered,  or  by 


1603.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  39 

whom,  seeing  that  one  man  has  just  as  good  a  right 
to  administer  them  as  another.  And  if  the  orders 
of  the  Romish  Church  are  to  be  rejected,  as  being 
part  of  the  "mark  of  the  beast/'  let  the  most 
zealous  Dissenter  tell  us  of  what  he  has  to  boast, 
or  what  hidden  virtue  there  is  in  his  form  of  ordi- 
nation. For  the  new  inventions  of  modern  times 
do  not  form  the  scriptural  basis  by  which  we  are  to 
regulate  our  ideas  of  ecclesiastical  practice ;  and 
I  hazard  the  assertion,  even  though  it  may  be  re- 
ceived with  a  sneer,  that  there  is  no  Dissent- 
ing minister  whose  ordination  is  as  valid  or  as 
scriptural  as  that  of  the  Romish  priests.  And  if 
tenaciousness  of  ordination  be  held  as  a  remnant 
of  popery,  then  why  do  Dissenters  ordain  at  all, 
seeing  that  they  submit  to  a  practice,  which,  even 
though  exercised  in  their  own  way,  they  cordially 
set  at  nought  and  despise  ?  The  truth  is,  every 
gift  is  not  a  grace  :  ordination  is  one  thing,  the 
doctrine  taught  is  another  :  and  he  who  imagines 
that  the  chief  excellence  of  the  Christian  ministry 
rests  in  the  mere  act  of  preaching,  and  a  human 
display  of  eloquence  from  the  pulpit,  labours  under 
a  most  grievous  delusion.  The  sacraments  are 
among  the  ordinary  means  of  salvation ;  and  the 
efficacy  of  these  sacraments  is  rendered  void  as  well 
by  the  want  of  regular  ordination,  as  by  the  un- 
worthiness  of  the  person  partaking  of  them.  v  Our 
Saviour  himself,  when  he  declared  that  his  kingdom 
was  not  of  this  world,  distinctly  taught  that  the  office 
of  the  priesthood  was  to  be  separate,  distinct,  and 


40  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

removed  from  the  secular  concerns  of  the  world ; 
and  that  they  who  assume  this  office  must  be  re- 
gularly admitted  thereto  according  to  the  practice 
which  he  has  enjoined,  as  laid  down  by  the  holy 
apostles. 

Without,  however,  enlarging  farther  on  this 
subject,  I  merely  observe,  that  whatever  may  be 
thought  of  Laud's  principles  by  Dissenters  in  the 
present  day,  to  all  conscientious  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  they  must  appear  sound  and 
scriptural,  otherwise  their  ministry  or  ordination 
is  of  little  avail.  If  Laud  was  wrong,  so  was  the 
Church,  but  he  chose  rather  to  err  with  the  Church 
whose  doctrines  had  been  pondered  well  by  the 
venerable  fathers  of  the  Reformation,  than  to  adopt 
the  private  interpretation  of  any  man,  or  be  led 
away  by  the  current  of  extravagance,  which  was 
daily  making  rapid  encroachments.  Not  that  he  did 
not  exercise  that  freedom  of  thought  which  is  natu- 
ral to  every  man  :  but  he  had  studied  the  Scrip- 
tures with  peculiar  care,  and  the  Articles  appeared 
to  him  agreeable  to  that  sacred  standard. 

But  at  this  time  an  event  happened,  which  ma- 
terially altered  the  state  of  the  kingdom.  On  the 
24th  of  March,  1602-3,  Queen  Elizabeth  died  at 
Richmond,  in  the  70th  year  of  her  age,  and  45th 
of  her  prosperous  reign.  Her  administration  had 
been  brilliant  and  glorious ;  she  had  raised  the 
kingdom  to  a  degree  of  greatness,  which  made  her 
an  object  of  fear  to  foreign  potentates,  and  gained 
her  the  admiration  and  affection  of  her  subjects  ; 


1602.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  41 

she  knew  well  how  to  govern  her  people,  and  her 
promptitude  and  decision  were  equally  remarkable 
in  all  her  actions.  It  was  her  happiness  to  have 
statesmen  whose  names  are  rendered  immortal, 
who  loved  their  country,  and  who  combined  the 
most  consummate  political  foresight  with  admira- 
ble talents  for  the  administration  of  public  affairs. 
She  was  invariably  the  defender  of  the  Protestant 
Church,  and  though  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
she  ever  felt  the  animating  and  superior  power  of 
true  religion,  yet  her  name  will  be  transmitted  to 
posterity  with  unsullied  reputation  for  the  fostering 
care  which  she  bestowed  on  the  Reformation.  Not 
that  her  conduct  is  free  from  reproach.  Her 
haughtiness  and  cruelty  to  the  unhappy  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  will  always  be  a  stigma  on  her 
memory,  as  acts  of  injustice,  and  outrages  on 
injured  innocence,  unworthy  of  her  vigorous  mind, 
and  which  have  few  parallels  in  history.  Her 
conduct  to  the  clergy  was  often  haughty  and  tyran- 
nical. "  She  restored  the  Reformation  it  is  true," 
says  Collier,  "  but  in  many  places  left  little  pro- 
vision to  maintain  it.  She  drew  back  the  patri- 
mony of  the  Church  restored  by  her  sister  Queen 
Mary,  and  reached  somewhat  unkindly  unto  the 
remainder. — These  things  considered,  if  the  Queen's 
usage  of  the  clergy  be  compared  with  that  which 
they  experienced  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  it  may  be  said,  her  little  finger 
was  thicker  than  her  father's  loins ;  and  that  he 


42  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1602. 

disciplined  them  with  whips,  but  she  chastised  them 
with  scorpions  V 

Thus  far  have  I  detailed  the  first  years  of  the  life 
of  Laud.  A  new  scene  now  opens  to  our  view — 
the  accession  of  James  of  Scotland — and  the  im- 
portant public  transactions  in  which  Laud  was  en- 
gaged— the  theological  disputes  of  the  times — and 
the  encroachments  of  the  Puritans,  who  were 
making  rapid  progress  in  their  endeavours  to  over- 
turn the  constitution. 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  669,  670. 


1603.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  43 


CHAPTER  II. 

1603-4. 

Accession  of  James  I. — State  of  parties  at  that  period — Reli- 
gious feeling — Conduct  of  James — Remarks  on  his  life — The 
Presbyterians-— Insolence  of  their  ministers — The  Scottish 
Episcopal  Church— Review  of  the  Puritan  objections  to  Epis- 
copacy— The  Hampton  Court  Conference — Its  objects  and 
results — Remarks  on  the,  Articles — Concluding  observations. 

THE  eyes  of  the  English  nation  were  now  turned  on 
James  ;  the  princes  of  Europe  beheld  his  accession 
to  the  English  throne  with  no  ordinary  interest. 
More  fortunate  than  any  of  his  ancestors  who  had 
swayed  the  Scottish  sceptre,  and  destined  to  be 
happier  than  any  of  his  descendants,  his  singular 
good  fortune  was  the  source  of  envy  to  many  con- 
tinental princes,  who  beheld  him  called  from  the 
government  of  a  small  and  feeble  state,  to  become 
the  monarch  of  three  consolidated  powerful  king- 
doms. Nor  was  the  enthusiasm  of  the  English 
nation  on  his  accession  the  less  excited, — though 
afterwards  that  very  people,  whose  joy  was  so  uni- 
versal, were  destined  to  exhibit  many  vicissitudes 
before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
beginning  of  that  era  saw  the  royal  House  of  Stuart 
welcomed  to  the  throne  of  Britain  by  every  indi- 
7 


44  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G03. 

vidual :  its  close  beheld  those  princes  driven  from 
the  throne,  exiled,  and  their  station  among  the 
princes  of  Europe  occupied  by  others. 

I  design  to  examine  briefly  the  causes  of  this 
wonderful  revolution  in  public  opinion ;  in  the  mean 
time,  it  is  necessary  to  offer  a  few  general  remarks 
upon  the  state  of  parties  at  this  eventful  period  of 
our  history.  I  have  already  noted  the  progress 
of  Puritanism,  more  especially  in  the  University  of 
Oxford,  during  Laud's  residence  there,  and  the  in- 
fluence which  the  Puritan  leaders  possessed  over  the 
minds  of  the  students.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
they  were  great  men,  although  led  away  by  an  ex- 
travagant zeal :  but  hitherto,  although  both  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  were  well  supplied  by  those  eccle- 
siastical malcontents,  by  the  vigorous  administration 
of  Elizabeth,  and  the  salutary  restraints  imposed 
by  the  primates,  this  faction  had  not  in  its  early 
progress  assumed  a  regular  form,  nor  had  it  become 
united  as  one  grand  opposing  body.  The  leaders 
and  partizans  were  detached,  and  even  in  dispute 
among  themselves :  at  all  events,  many  of  them, 
though  raising  a  clamour  about  a  second  reforma- 
tion, as  they  called  it,  were  by  no  means  anxious  to 
leave  the  Church.  But  on  James'  accession,  they 
had  become  more  united  :  and  they  clearly  saw  the 
necessity  of  co-operation.  The  genius  of  Laud  had 
excited  their  alarm,  and  his  sentiments  in  the  lec- 
tures he  delivered  were  not  to  be  passed  over  in 
silence.  He  was,  in  fact,  no  common  opponent : 
he  was  not  to  be  put  clown  by  the  sophisms  of 


1603.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  45 

Calvin,  or  the  tenets  of  Genevan  theology :  and, 
armed  as  he  was  with  an  intimate  knowledge  of  every 
argument  of  the  Papists  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
the  Puritans  on  the  other,  they  already  anticipated 
this  man  in  his  rise  to  power,  which  they  foresaw 
was  inevitable.  They  could  indeed  boast  of  great 
men  among  their  own  adherents,  whose  learning 
was  profound,  and  not  surpassed  by  Laud  himself, 
but  unfortunately,  however,  having  deeply  imbibed 
the  opinions  of  Calvin,  they  rejected  the  practice 
of  the  apostles  and  the  authority  of  the  primitive 
Church,  in  their  anxiety  to  comprehend  and  ex- 
pound the  Institutes  of  that  Reformer.  But  here 
was  a  man  who  was  under  no  such  restraints  :  who 
valued  no  more  the  opinion  of  Calvin  than  he  did 
that  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  who  was  resolved 
to  uphold  and  defend  that  Church  whose  ordination 
he  had  received,  according  to  her  Articles,  and  to 
the  canons  passed  in  her  most  solemn  Convoca- 
tions l. 

1  The  famous  Thomas  Cartwright  died  the  year  before  James' 
accession.  Whitgift  had  all  along  treated  him  with  lenity,  think- 
ing that  when  his  enthusiasm  subsided,  he  would  become  well 
affected  towards  the  Church,  and  was  not  disappointed  in  the 
expectations  he  had  formed  of  him.  Cartwright,  who  had  con- 
tributed his  full  share  towards  the  spread  of  Calvinism,  and  the 
fomenting  of  the  religious  disputes,  after  being  admitted  to  bail, 
through  the  kindness  of  the  Archbishop,  died  expressing  his 
good  inclinations  towards  the  Established  Church.  He  always 
acknowledged  with  gratitude  the  primate's  kindness,  as  appears 
from  several  of  his  letters  to  the  primate. — Sir  George  Paul's 
Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  71,  72.  Strype's  Annals,  chap,  xxviii. 


46  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

The  accession  of  James  was  hailed  by  men  of  all 
ranks,  and  in  that  perilous  age,  when  religious 
disputes  engaged  the  attention  of  almost  every 
man,  each  party  beheld  it  with  jealous  and  interested 
feelings.  Surrounded  by  the  stern  reformers  of  the 
north,  who,  by  the  excitement  of  their  frenzy  had 
marched  over  the  country,  carrying  with  them  fire, 
sword,  and  sedition,  and  committing  the  most  ruth- 
less and  furious  devastations 1 :  educated  by  the  cele- 
brated George  Buchanan,  a  philosopher  in  prin- 
ciple, and  a  zealous  votary  of  Geneva  in  religion2, 
who  defended  the  excesses  of  his  reforming  friends, 
and  traduced  the  memory  of  the  hapless  Mary,  his 
first  benefactress;  it  was  supposed  by  the  Calvi- 
nists  of  the  north,  and  their  brethren  the  Puritans 
of  the  south,  that  they  would  have  now  a  king  after 
their  own  heart,  more  especially  as  the  former  had 
compelled  James,  during  his  minority,  to  sign  all 

Sir  Henry  Yelverton,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Reader  before  Mor- 
ton's Episcopacy  Justified.  "  His  last  words  on  his  death-bed 
were,  that  he  sorely  lamented  the  unnecessary  troubles  he  had 
caused  in  the  Church,  by  the  schism  he  had  been  the  great  fo- 
menter  of,  and  wished  he  was  to  begin  his  life  again,  that  he 
might  testify  to  the  world  the  dislike  he  had  of  his  former 
ways." 

1  Knox's  History,  p.  136,  147,  &c.  Spottiswoode's  Hist. 
P.  121 — 126.  Stuart's  Hist,  of  Scottish  Reformation,  p..  11 3, 
114.  203,  204.  Dalyell's  Cursory  Remarks  on  Scottish  Poems 
of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  vol.  i.  in  the  account  of  the  Earl  of 
Moray,  p.  52,  53, 

8  Nevertheless,  Buchanan  says  of  himself,  that  he  was  a  Lu- 
theran. Vita  scrip,  ipso. — Dr.  Irving's  Memoirs. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  47 

their  covenants,  confessions,  and  leagues,  of  every 
description.  Accordingly,  although  James,  when 
he  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  had  given  in- 
dications that  he  was  not  so  pliable  as  they  ima- 
gined, and,  moreover,  being  more  learned  than  the 
Presbyterian  ministers,  was  easily  able  to  confound 
them  in  their  positions,  yet  the  Puritans,  and  those 
who  favoured  their  doctrines,  presuming  on  his  Pres- 
byterian education,  or,  at  least,  upon  his  favour  and 
connivance,  began  to  raise  their  desponding  minds, 
and  to  augur  much  from  this  new  combination  of 
circumstances1.  The  Roman  Catholics,  who  looked 
on  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Puritans  with  perfect  con- 
tempt, and  who,  in  truth,  were  animated  with  less 
hatred  towards  them  than  towards  the  Established 
Church,  (although  the  Puritans  clamoured  the 
more  violently  against  them,)  beheld  James'  acces- 
sion with  the  greatest  exultation,  and  naturally 
expected  favour  from  a  monarch  whose  mother  they 
considered  to  have  died  a  martyr  for  their  cause. 
The  supporters  of  the  Reformed  Church  by  law 
established,  were  not  the  less  animated  by  hope ; 
for,  the  Church  being  an  integral  part  of  the  con- 
stitution, the  king  was  bound  to  defend  it  against 
Popery  and  Puritanism,  the  two  extremes  between 
which  the  Church  of  England  was  placed. 

Nevertheless,  Archbishop  Whitgift  was  not  without 
fears  concering  James's  real  intentions.  That  excel- 
lent primate  had  been  entrusted  by  Elizabeth  with 

1  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  3,  4. 


48  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

the  government  of  the  Church,  he  had  been  long 
and  deservedly  in  the  favour  of  the  queen,  he  had 
attended  her  in  her  last  illness,  and  had  composed 
a  prayer  on  that  occasion,  remarkable  for  its  piety 
and  beauty1.  He  had  been  the  chief  mourner  at 
her  funeral,  had  received  the  offerings,  and  had 
the  banners  presented  to  him,  as  if  he  had  been  a 
member  of  the  royal  House.  It  is  observed  by  Sir 
George  Paul,  that  he  had  the  chief  management  of 
all  ecclesiastical  affairs,  the  disposal  of  the  bishop- 
rics, and  other  patronage  ;  and  that  the  queen  laid 
the  whole  burden  of  those  cares  upon  his  shoulders, 
saying,  That  if  any  thing  were  amiss,  it  was  upon 
his  soul  and  conscience  to  answer  for  it ;  for  she 
had  rid  her  hands,  and  looked  that  he  would  yield  an 
account  on  her  behalf  unto  Almighty  God 2.  After 
James  had  been  proclaimed,  the  Archbishop  dis- 

1  Sir  George  Paul's  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  116.     Strype,  chap. 
xxix.  from  Reg.  Whitgift,  vol.  iii.  p.  148.     The  words  of  this 
beautiful  prayer  are  : — O  most  heavenly  Father,  and  God  of  all 
mercy,  we  most  humbly  beseech  thee  to  behold  thy  servant  the 
queen,  with  the  eyes  of  pity  and  compassion.    Give  unto  her  the 
comfort  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  work  in  her  a  constant  and  lively 
faith,  grant  unto  her  true  repentance,  and  restore  unto  her,  if  it 
be  thy  will,  her  former  health  and  strength  both  of  body  and 
soul.     Let  not  the  enemy,  nor  his  wicked  instruments,  have  any 
power  ever  to  do  her  harm.     O  Lord,  punish  her  not  for  our 
offences,  neither  us  in  her.     Deal  not  with  us,  O  Lord,  as  we 
have  deserved  ;    but  for   thy  mercy's  sake,  and  for  Christ's 
sake,  forgive  us  all  our  sins,  and  prolong  her  days,  that  we  may 
still  enjoy  her,  to  the  glory  of  thy  holy  name,  and  good  of  all 
such  as  truly  fear  thee,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

2  Sir  G.  Paul's  Life  of  Archbishop  Whitgift,  p,  78. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  49 

patched  Dr.  Neville,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  into  Scot- 
land to  do  homage  in  the  name  of  the  Bishops  and 
Clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  ascertain 
the  king's  intentions  concerning  the  government  of 
the  Church.  Though  James  declared  that  he  would 
maintain  the  Church  as  then  established,  yet  Whit- 
gift  passed  the  summer  of  the  year  1604  in  great 
anxiety  *.  The  king's  arrival,  however,  dissipated 
those  fears,  and  at  once  opened  the  eyes  of  the  non- 
conformists. They  had  printed  a  book  in  the  former 
year,  entitled  "  The  Plea  of  the  Innocents,"  which 
was  written  by  one  Nicholls,  and  now  they  had 
begun  to  despise  the  church  service,  "  to  forbear  the 
use  of  the  surplice,  and  to  omit  the  ceremonies ; 
and  those  omissions  they  hoped  would  be  acceptable 
to  the  king,  considering  his  education,  and  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Scotch  kirk 2."  But  a  proclamation  ap- 


1  Neal,  the  Puritan  historian,  who  takes  every  opportunity 
to  prevaricate,  here  remarks,  that  the  king's  assurances  "  com- 
forted the  timorous  Archbishop,  who  had  sometimes  spoken  with 
great  uneasiness  about  the  Scotch  Church."    The  latter  clause 
is  true,  but  it  became  this  historian  to  be  a  candid  man ;   for 
though  Dr.  Neville  did  get  such  an  assurance  from  James,  it  was 
a  general  one,  and  Whitgift  was  not  comforted  by  it.     Neal 
himself  records,  that  James  in  his  public  declaration  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1590,  said,  "  As  for  our  neighbour  Kirk  of  England 
their  service  is  an  evil  said  mass  in  English  ;   they  want  nothing 
of  the  mass  but  the  liftings."     James,  by  the  way,  was  under 
tutorage  when  he  uttered    this  speech.     There  was   occasion 
for  being  timorous,  when  surrounded  by  men  who  were  under- 
mining the  Church. 

2  Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  671,  672. 
VOL.  I.  E 


50  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

p eared  on  the  king's  arrival,  strictly  prohibiting 
any  innovation  in  the  doctrine  or  discipline  of  the 
Church  as  established  by  law. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  James  would 
escape  censure  for  this  procedure.  Besides  the  impu- 
tation that  he  had  changed  his  principles,  ( if  he  had 
any,  says  Neal,)  the  most  pusillanimous  insinua- 
tions were  daily  sent  abroad  by  the  Puritans.  For- 
getting that  James  had  been  the  offspring  of  mis- 
fortune— that  both  his  parents  had  suffered  violent 
deaths — they  actually  asserted  that  he  was  deficient 
in  intellect,  and  that  the  surprise  which  his  mother 
had  experienced  at  the  murder  of  Rizzio  had  so 
affected  the  foetus,  as  to  produce  this  intellectual 
weakness.  But  James,  though  peacefully  inclined, 
was  neither  a  coward  nor  an  imbecile  man.  He  had 
grappled  with  an  assassin  in  the  Gowry  conspiracy ; 
in  after  life  he  gave  other  proofs  of  courage ;  and 
his  learning,  though  it  abounded  with  pedantry, 
was  extensive  and  profound.  But  what  insinua- 
tions will  not  disappointment  and  passion  provoke  ? 
Men  blinded  by  religious  enthusiasm  forget  the 
first  principles  of  true  religion,  and  resort  to  miser- 
able subterfuges,  which  excite  contempt  and  de- 
rision l. 

The  circumstances  in  which  James  was  placed  when  he 
assumed  the  government  were  of  a  peculiar  kind.  He  was 
never  a  real  Presbyterian,  though  he  has  been  often  charged  with 
apostasy  by  that  party.  His  age  had  witnessed  the  most  dread- 
ful catastrophes,  and  there  is  not  perhaps  in  the  history  of  any  na- 
tion events  so  pregnant  with  interest  as  those  which  took  place 

7 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  51 

But  it  seems  not  the  less  surprising,  that  James 
should  still  be  viewed  by  Presbyterians  as  if  he  had 
at  one  period  of  his  life  belonged  completely  to  their 
party,  and  as  if  he  had  made  a  fearful  apostasy 
when  he  succeeded  to  the  English  throne.  Now, 
the  simple  truth  is,  that  Andrew  Melville  first  in- 
troduced Calvinism  into  Scotland;  for,  though 
Knox  and  the  other  Reformers  were  disciples  of 
Calvin,  they  by  no  means  adopted  the  system  of 
ecclesiastical  parity,  but  established  the  form  of 
government  by  superintendents,  (another  term  for 
bishops,}  of  whom  there  were  Jive;  and  this  polity 
was  not,  as  some  late  Presbyterian  writers  would 
persuade  us,  designed  to  be  merely  temporary,  but 
to  be  the  regular  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the 
Church1.  Knox  had  himself,  though  at  one  period 

in  Scotland  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Scarcely  one  of  the  lead- 
ing men  escaped  a  violent  death.  James's  great-grandfather, 
James  IV,  was  slain  at  Flodden,  with  the  flower  of  the  nobility; 
his  grandfather,  James  V,  died  of  a  broken  heart ;  his  father 
murdered  by  an  unprincipled  nobleman ;  his  mother,  the  hapless 
Mary,  murdered,  too,  under  colour  of  justice,  by  the  English 
queen.  Cardinal  Beaton  assassinated  by  a  band  of  enthusiasts 
in  his  own  palace  ;  his  successor,  Archbishop  Hamilton,  most 
unjustly  executed;  Huntly  slain;  Moray  assassinated ;  Maitland 
of  Lethington  committed  suicide  ;  Bothwell  degraded  and  de- 
spised, a  vile  pirate  in  the  Northern  Seas ;  Morton  brought  to  the 
block ;  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange  hanged  as  a  traitor  ;  terminating 
with  the  famous  Gowry  conspiracy.  In  short,  every  man  who 
figured  in  public  was  cut  off,  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions, 
without  taking  into  account  those  who  suffered  for  religion. 

1  It  were  easy  to  multiply  references  and  authorities  in  proof 
of  my  positions,  but  it  is  needless,  and  indeed  the  very  anxiety 

E'2 


52  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

of  his  life  he  refused  a  bishopric  *,  been  the  bearer 

of  the  Presbyterians  to  make  the  superintendent  system,  which, 
they  well  know,  was  nothing  else  than  a  form  of  Episcopacy,  as 
if  it  were  designed  merely  pro  tempore,  is  a  sufficient  argument 
in  favour.  The  Scottish  reformers  might  have  had  a  horror  at 
the  name  of  bishop,  if  they  had  not  the  sagacity  to  disunite  that 
office  from  the  associations  of  Popery,  and  therefore  they  changed 
the  word,  which,  by  the  way,  has  exactly  the  same  meaning ;  but 
no  man  who  is  acquainted  with  Knox's  temper  and  actions,  in 
particular,  will  for  one  moment  suppose,  that  he  was  likely  to 
gratify  the  prejudices  or  the  associations  of  any  individual. 
No ;  he  was  for  immediate  reformation  ;  he  forgot  that  all  im- 
provements must  he  accomplished  by  the  slow  and  imperceptible 
hand  of  time.  "  But  after  all,"  says  Collier,  whose  authority  is 
just  as  good  as  that  of  Dr.  M'Crie,  as  set  forth  in  the  Life  of 
Knox,  vol.  ii.  and  in  the  Life  of  Andrew  Melville,  vol.  i. 
"  Knox  was  no  entire  convert  to  the  Geneva  discipline ;  he  de- 
clared against  Presbyterian  parity,  promoted  the  superintendent 
scheme,  and  pressed  submission  to  that  establishment."  Ec- 
cles.  Hist.  vol.  ii. 

1  It  may  be  disputed,  however,  whether  Edward  VI.  did  ac- 
tually offer  Knox  a  bishopric ;  his  admirers  affirm  so,  but  he 
himself  only  hints,  in  his  "  Historic,"  about  some  great  prefer- 
ment, which  he  rejected.  His  ambition  would  not  have  been 
gratified  by  his  remaining  in  England,  for  he  wished  not  to  be  a 
member,  but  the  leader  of  a  party.  In  some  editions  of  his  His- 
toric, there  is  the  above  insinuation,  but  it  must  be  recollected, 
that  there  are  considerable  doubts  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
work,  because  Knox  was  dead  before  its  publication,  and  we  find 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  granting  authority  to  Richard 
Bannatyne,  Knox's  servant,  a  violent  enthusiast,  to  collect  and 
collate  all  the  scraps  and  papers  which  Knox  had  left  after  his 
decease.  His  Genevan  friends,  therefore,  thrust  in  what  they 
pleased  to  favour  their  own  purposes,  and  to  make  Knox  speak 
the  language  of  their  party.  Goodall's  Queen  Mary,  vol.  i. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  53 

of  a  letter  to  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, in  which  he  and  his  friends  distinctly  acknow- 
ledged Episcopacy,  and  their  own  polity  as  a  mo- 
dification of  it l.  Melville,  however,  a  furious  zealot, 
was  the  first  in  Scotland  who  ventured  to  call  in 
question  the  episcopal  office,  which  he  did  in  a 
crafty  manner,  by  practising  on  one  John  Durie,  a 
minister  in  Edinburgh,  a  good  but  simple  and  un- 
learned man,  whom,  in  a  General  Assembly,  he  per- 
suaded to  start  the  question,  which  he,  of  course, 
vigorously  seconded.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable, 
too,  that  Melville,  zealot  as  he  was,  admits  in  his 
speech  on  this  very  occasion,  that  the  episcopal 
office  is  laid  down  in  holy  Scripture ;  expressing 
himself  in  the  following  contradictory  manner  :  "  It 
is  true  the  distinction  of  bishops  is  mentioned  in 
Scripture,  but  then  it  was  not  to  be  taken  in  the 
customary  construction,  for  our  Saviour  has  allowed 
no  superiority  among  his  ministers :  he  himself  is 

1  Knox's  History,  p.  439.  Spottiswoode's  History,  p.  198. 
Bishop  Keith's  History,  folio.  M'Crie's  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  ii. 
Dr.  Cook's  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  iii.  Neal's  History 
of  the  Puritans,  vol.  i.  Appendix.  This  is  aremarkable  fact,  even 
though  the  letter  was  written  in  favour  of  the  Puritans.  It  was 
signed  by  the  five  superintendents,  to- wit,  John  Spottiswoode, 
father  of  the  Archbishop  ;  John  Winram,  who  had  been  subprior 
of  St.  Andrew's  ;  John  Erskine,  the  baron  of  Dun ;  John  Row, 
and  Robert  Pont ;  with  the  names  of  a  few  ministers  attached. 
It  is  entitled,  "  The  superintendents,  ministers,  and  others,  of 
the  realm  of  Scotland,  to  their  brethren,  the  bishops  and  pastors 
of  England,  who  have  renounced  the  Roman  Antichrist,  and  do 
profess  with  them  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity." 


54  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

the  only  Lord  of  his  Church,  and  as  for  his  officers, 
they  are  all  ranged  in  the  same  degree,  and  allotted 
the  same  proportion  of  power."  It  is  needless  to 
comment  on  this  absurd  observation. 

It  must  be  observed,  that  no  act  of  parliament 
was  ever  passed  for  the  abolition  of  Scottish  Episco- 
pacy ;  and,  in  fact,  no  acts  at  all,  save  those  of  the 
Assembly,  which,  after  1575,  was  very  often  self- 
elected.  Hence,  the  Episcopal  Church,  until  the 
period  of  the  Revolution  in  1688,  was  the  Church 
established  by  law,  as  it  had  been  often  ratified  by 
various  parliaments.  The  Regent  Morton  had  estab- 
lished Episcopacy,  in  the  person  of  John  Douglas, 
whom  he  presented  to  the  primacy  of  St.  Andrew's, 
and  who  was  accordingly  consecrated  to  that  office. 
The  very  first  year,  then,  in  which  James  governed 
in  his  own  person,  he  evinced  his  dislike  to  the  Ge- 
nevan polity,  and  it  was  not  allowed  to  pass  unno- 
ticed. But  that  monarch,  though  he  never  regarded 
Melville  and  his  associates  with  friendly  feelings, 
was  often  tutored  unto  submission  by  those  whom 
he  favoured  among  the  nobles,  and  hence  arose  his 
speeches  on  various  occasions,  which  the  Puritans 
afterwards  turned  so  much  against  him. 

It  is  amusing  to  observe  the  opinions  which  the 
Puritan  historian  indulges  on  James's  accession. 
That  veracious  writer,  determined  to  support  his 
enthusiastic  party  at  the  expence  of  truth,  fears 
not  to  hazard  any  assertion,  however  absurd  or  con- 
tradictory ;  and  as  Laud  is  most  conspicuous  in  his 
narrative  of  this  period,  for  the  public  share  he 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  55 

sustained  in  the  controversies  of  the  day,  a  few  re- 
marks upon  the  following  passages  may  not  be  out  of 
place.  "  There  had  been  a  cessation  of  controversy," 
says  Neal  *,  "  for  some  time  before  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth :  the  Puritans  being  in  hopes,  upon 
the  accession  of  a  king  that  had  been  educated  in 
their  own  principles,  to  obtain  an  easy  redress  of 
their  grievances ;  and  certainly  no  prince  ever  had  it 
so  much  in  his  power  to  compromise  the  differences 
of  the  Church  as  King  James  I.  at  the  Conference  at 
Hampton  Court ;  but  being  an  indolent  and  vain 
glorious  monarchy  he  became  a  willing  captive  to 
the  bishops,  who  flattered  his  vanity,  and  put  that 
maxim  into  his  head,  (No  bishop,  no  king.9" — "  If 
King  James,"  he  farther  remarks,  "  had  any  prin- 
ciples of  religion  besides  what  he  called  king-craft, 
or  dissimulation,  he  changed  them  with  the  climate, 
for,  from  being  a  rigid  Calvinist,  he  became  a  fa- 
vourer of  Arminianism  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign  :  from  being  a  Protestant  of  the  purest  kirk 
upon  earth 2,  a  doctrinal  papist 3 :  and,  from  a  dis- 
guised Puritan,  the  most  implacable  enemy  of  that 

1  Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  Preface,  p.  iii.  iv. 

3  He  here  means  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  Cedite  Graii !  It  is 
an  assertion  which  even  some  of  the  members  of  that  legal  estab- 
lishment would  not  hazard  at  the  present  day,  though  it  is  much 
better  now  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Andrew  Melville,  or  the 
succeeding  years  of  covenanting  chivalry. 

3  That  Neal  must  have  been  aware  he  was  here  writing  a 
falsehood,  is  undeniable,  if  he  had  any  common  discrimination. 
Luckily  for  him,  he  does  not  give  his  authorities  ;  in  truth,  he 
could  not,  but  his  followers  have  believed  it ! 


56  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

people,  putting  all  the  springs  of  the  prerogative 
in  motion  to  drive  them  out  of  both  kingdoms." 
And  once  more,  to  the  same  purpose,  in  another 
place,  about  James's  accession,  "  The  Scotch  minis- 
ters did  not  approach  him  with  the  distant  submis- 
sion and  reverence  of  the  English  bishops,  and 
therefore  within  nine  months  he  renounced  Pres- 
bytery, and  established  it  for  a  maxim,  no  bishop, 
no  king  :  so  soon  did  this  pious  monarch  renounce 
all  his  former  principles,  (if  he  had  any,)  and  break 
the  most  awful  and  solemn  oaths  and  vows  V 

The  above  assertions  are  utterly  groundless  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  this,  even  although  I  were 
not  persuaded  that  future  generations  will  yet  do 
justice  to  the  too-often  misrepresented  motives  and 
actions  of  James,  when  those  times  arrive  in  which 
men  will  divest  themselves  of  the  prejudice  of 
party,  and  accustom  themselves  to  calm  and  sober 
reflection.  These  statements,  however,  are  false, 
on  three  accounts :  first,  because  they  contain  a 
dogmatic  apology  for  the  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans, 
not  on  facts,  but  on  mere  assumptions ;  secondly, 
because  they  are  libels  on  the  character  of  James, 
which  are  disgraceful  to  the  writer,  in  his  lamen- 
tation for  James's  departure  from  "  the  purest  kirk 
on  earth ;"  because  they  are  not  supported ;  and 
because  some  few  phrases  which  the  monarch  used 
in  ordinary  conversation,  are  taken  advantage  of: 

1  Neal's  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  4.  Calderwood's  Church  History, 
p.  418. 473,  &c. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  57 

thirdly,  because  they  are  denied  by  historical  fact, 
and  refuted  by  the  practice  of  modern  times. 

The  apology  which  is  here  made  for  the  fana- 
ticism of  the  Puritans  is  remarkable.  There  had 
been  no  cessation  of  controversy  before  the  death 
of  Elizabeth,  for  the  Puritans,  as  I  have  already 
shewn,  had  filled  the  Universities  with  their  dis- 
putes, had  been  patronized  by  Walsingham,  and 
had  been  strengthening  themselves  by  training 
future  supporters  to  their  cause.  If  there  was  a 
cessation,  it  was  because  they  had  the  advantage, 
and,  being  adepts  in  intrigue,  they  looked  forward 
to  the  accession  of  James  as  the  period  of  their 
complete  triumph :  for  already  did  they  prevail  in 
the  University  of  Oxford  under  the  fostering  care 
of  Abbot,  and  Cambridge  contained  a  considerable 
number  of  the  disciples  of  Cartwright.  Accord- 
ingly we  find,  that  in  the  former  University  they 
held  the  chief  influence,  until  Laud  astonished  them 
by  his  lecture  of  Mrs.  Maye's  foundation.  The 
Puritan  leaders  had  been  industrious  in  circulating 
their  principles  among  the  people,  as  their  works 
still  testify,  and  they  were  indefatigable  in  securing 
to  themselves  a  vantage-ground,  which  they  anti- 
cipated would  enable  them  to  triumph  in  the  next 
reign.  Knowing  Elizabeth's  determined  opposition 
to  them,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  would 
brave  her  power:  her  decease  could  not  be  far 
distant ;  they  were  busy,  therefore,  in  laying  the 
foundation  on  which  they  were  afterwards  to  build. 
But  not  a  single  authority  can  be  adduced  to  prove 


58  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

that  this  part  of  Neale's  representation  is  supported 
by  facts,  and  the  slightest  examination  might  have 
satisfied  that  writer,  had  he  resolved  to  be  candid, 
that  the  veiy  histcry  of  those  enthusiasts  whom  he 
lauds  so  highly,  is  against  himself;  nay,  he  himself 
has  written  in  his  first  volume  what  he  directly  con- 
tradicts in  the  second. 

These  statements,  again,  are  false,  because  they 
are  malicious  libels  on  the  character  of  James. 
We  are  told,  that  "  from  a  Protestant  of  the  purest 
kirk  upon  earth,"  he  became  "  a  doctrinal  Papist  V 
from  a  ' '  disguised  Puritan,"  he  became  their  "  im- 
placable enemy."  And  were  there,  then,  no  purer 
churches  in  that  age  than  the  Kirk  of  Scotland?  and 
are  the  opinions  of  John  Calvin  the  sole  criterion 
of  purity  ?  But  do  the  admirers  of  Neal  require  to 
be  told  that  it  is  not  so  ?  I  am  persuaded  that  there 
are  few  Dissenters  in  England,  the  very  descend- 

1  By  the  phrase,  a  "  doctrinal  papist,"  it  must  be  understood, 
I  presume,  that  James  was  a  believer  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Rom- 
ish Church  ;  otherwise,  if  the  Puritan  historian  really  did  write 
figuratively,  he  might  have  condescended  to  explain  his  meaning 
more  fully.  But  the  severity  of  James'  treatment  towards  the 
Roman  Catholics  so  exasperated  them,  that  human  sagacity  alone 
enabled  him  to  escape  from  the  dreadful  vengeance  which  they 
had  prepared  to  execute  on  him  and  his  court,  in  the  memorable 
Gunpowder  Plot.  From  his  fondness  for  controversial  learning, 
too,  he  founded  Chelsea  College,  for  the  support  of  a  number  of 
polemical  divines,  whose  talents  and  exertions  were  to  be  em- 
ployed in  refuting  the  Roman  Catholics.  This  is  the  monarch 
whom  our  Puritan  calls  a  "  doctrinal  papist,"  and  a  prince  who 
"  was  destitute  of  principle,  if  he  ever  had  any !" 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  59 

ants  of  the  Puritans,  who  will  subscribe  to  these 
assertions  of  their  historiographer.  The  preachers  of 
the  "  purest  kirk  upon  earth"  had  disgusted  James 
on  almost  every  occasion.  They  had  insulted  him, 
traduced  the  memory  of  his  mother,  had  openly 
denounced  her  before  his  face,  had  made  pointed 
allusions  to  her  from  the  pulpit,  had  offered  sedi- 
tious prayers  to  the  throne  of  Heaven,  had  preached 
sedition.  Whenever  their  conclave  thought  proper 
to  legislate,  they  did  so  as  if  that  legislation  were 
the  standard  of  government ;  if  the  slightest  oppo- 
sition was  made,  condemnation  was  openly  de- 
nounced :  they  were  invariably  sharers  in  secret  plots 
and  intrigues ;  continually  interfering  in  politics, 
with  which  they  had  no  concern ;  they  vindicated 
the  plots  of  more  than  one  band  of  conspirators ; 
they  had  their  own  share  in  the  daring  conspiracy 
of  Ruthven,  Earl  of  Gowrie :  in  a  word,  they  de- 
clared that  they  were  superior  to  the  parliament, 
and  that  it  had  no  right  to  enact  laws  without  their 
consent,  "  because/'  said  they,  "  our  power  is  of 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ  alone  is  our  king."  Such 
were  the  insufferable  conduct  and  fanaticism  of  the 
preachers  of  the  "  the  purest  kirk  upon  earth."  And 
if  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  the  purest  then,  it 
must  consequently  be  the  purest  now,  for  it  pro- 
fesses (at  least  its  present  members  do, for  them- 
selves,) that  it  is  a  perfect  specimen  of  the  early 
Scottish  Reformation.  But  there  is  not  a  Dissenter 
in  England,  not  even  Presbyterians,  who  would  not 
smile  at  this  assertion :  and  more  than  once  have 


60  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

they  declared  their  opinions  on  this  matter  *,  and 
they,  by  a  singular  inconsistency  with  the  practice 
of  their  ancestors,  reject  the  Erastian  tenet,  "  That 
Christ  and  his  apostles  have  prescribed  no  particular 
form  of  discipline  for  the  Church  in  after  ages,  but 
have  left  the  keys  in  the  hands  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate, who  has  the  sole  power  of  punishing  trans- 
gressors, and  of  appointing  such  particular  forms  of 
church-government  from  time  to  time,  as  are  most 
subservient  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  com* 
monwealth."  This  was  the  notable  discovery  of 
John  Calvin,  too,  after  what  Dr.  Cook  calls,  "  a 
careful  study  of  the  New  Testament :"  and  the  very 
essence  of  Calvinism  therefore  is,  the  doctrine  of 
resistance  to  civil  governors,  if,  no  matter  how 
trivial  or  useful,  they  should  be  conceived  to  do  any 
thing  which  the  individual  chooses  to  think  a  griev- 
ance 2.  A  strange  inconsistency  truly,  first  to  give 
the  civil  magistrate  the  sword,  and  then  to  aver 
that  it  is  lawful  to  resist  his  authority,  if  it  be 
thought  that  he  rules  with  impropriety.  Who  are 
the  judges  ?  The  people,  say  the  admirers  of  Cal- 
vin; but  is  it  not  a  fact,  that  a  state  in  which 
every  man  sets  himself  as  an  expounder  of  the  laws 
would  be  one  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed  : — that  the 
people  are  not  themselves  sufficient  judges,  nor,  if 
they  promise  obedience,  have  they  a  right  to  dispute 

1  See  the  Congregational  Magazine,  for  1819,  No.  16  ;  and 
the  Evangelical  Magazine  for  April  1828,  in  the  review  of  the 
Scotch  Presbytery  of  London's  Pastoral  Letter. 
fl    a  Calvin's  Epist,  283.  285.  -305, 306.  Knox'sHist.  391—401, 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  61 

authority,  however  repugnant  that  may  be  to  their 
individual  opinions  ?  These  remarks  are  not  against 
liberty  of  conscience,  but  they  are  against  private 
interpretation  ;  and  history  presents  a  too  faithful 
record  of  the  effects  of  those  baneful  maxims  which 
were  inculcated  in  this  country.  For,  from  the 
combined  violence  and  fanaticism  of  the  English 
Puritans  and  the  Scottish  Covenanters,  we  know 
enough  to  deprecate  another  attempt  to  make  the 
rabble  of  a  nation  the  judges  and  arbiters  of  reli- 
gious and  political  disputes. 

I  venture  to  add  one  remark  upon  the  Puritan 
historian's  assertion,  that  James  was  a  "  doctrinal 
Papist,"  and  that  from  "  a  disguised  Puritan,"  he 
became  their  most  "implacable  enemy."  These 
falsehoods  are  made,  because  James  defended  his 
own  prerogative,  and  the  Episcopal  Church  of 
England,  and  because  he  did  not  countenance  and 
yield  to  puritanical  extravagance 1.  But  James, 
though  pedantic,  and  often  imprudent — though  at 
times  weak,  and,  it  maybe,  indolent,  was  not  deficient 
in  political  foresight,  though  he  knew  not  always 
how  to  exercise  it.  His  misfortune,  and  that  of  his 
successor,  was  the  want  of  such  able  statesmen  as 
conducted  the  public  affairs  in  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, while  his  partiality  to  favourites  made  him 
elevate  some  to  that  distinction  who  had  no  capa- 
city for  it,  and  disregard  others  who  were  more 
deserving.  But  he  saw  the  enthusiasm  of  his  Pu- 

1  Kirkton's  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  edited  from 
the  original  MS.  by  C.  Kirkpatrick  Sharpe,  Esq.  4to.  Edit. 
1817,  p.  15r16. 


62  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

ritan  subjects ;  he  needed  "  no  bishops"  to  be  his 
instructors ;  he  had  felt  it,  severely  felt  it,  before 
his  accession,  while  his  rule  was  confined  to  their 
Presbyterian  friends  in  the  north.  He  saw  it  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  assert  his  prerogative,  to  draw 
tightly  the  reins  of  government,  and,  if  possible,  to 
restrain  that  religious  frenzy  which  had  excited  the 
spirit  of  faction.  The  pupil  of  Buchanan  was  not 
destitute  of  penetration,  and  he  is  called  a  "doctrinal 
papist,"  not  because  he  believed  in  Popery,  for  not 
even  the  sturdiest  Puritan  could  be  animated  by  a 
greater  anti-popish  zeal  than  he,  but  because  he 
became  the  ' '  implacably  enemy"  of  men  who,  he 
saw,  were  secretly  spreading  their  enthusiastic  opi- 
nions throughout  the  kingdom,  to  overthrow  the 
constitution  of  the  Church  and  State,  and  who 
were  attempting  to  make  Calvin  the  grand  oracle 
of  all  theological  and  political  science.  What,  there- 
fore, was  the  result  ?  Of  what  advantage  would  the 
reformation  of  religion  have  been  to  James,  as  a 
monarch  and  a  prince,  had  he  yielded  at  his  acces- 
sion to  the  demands  of  the  Puritans  ?  A  Church 
in  which  "  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes,"  and  rejected  all  human  authority,  was 
a  nursery  of  sedition,  of  treason,  of  every  thing,  in 
short,  which  could  molest  and  annoy,  and  which 
its  preachers  would  not  fail  to  defend,  in  their 
visionary  themes  about  spirituality,  and  what  they 
termed  things  lawful.  These  remarks,  therefore, 
are  against  private  interpretation,  whether  in  re- 
ligion or  politics :  it  should  be  the  voice  of  the 
learned,  not  of  the  ignorant ;  of  the  prudent,  not  of 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  63 

the  clamorous  and  violent :  and  not  even  should  it  be 
always  the  former,  seeing  that  they  are  alike  subject 
to  deception.  The  Reformation  had  indeed  rid 
James  of  the  intolerance  and  tyranny  of  one  Pope ; 
but  to  have  yielded  to  Puritans,  would  have  been  to 
have  raised  up  against  himself  a  pope  in  every  parish 
of  England  and  Scotland.  He  had  been  delivered, 
I  say,  from  the  absurdities  of  one  extreme,  now  he 
would  have  fallen  into  another.  And  if  the  contest 
had  been  between  him  and  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
if  he  fell,  there  was  glory  in  the  fall :  it  was  to 
crouch  before  the  majestic  lion  :  but  to  have  fallen 
before  the  Puritans,  and  tlje  Calvinistic  preachers 
of  the  north,  to  have  yielded  to  them,  to  have  al- 
lowed their  fanaticism  to  triumph, — it  was  un- 
worthy of  him  as  an  English  monarch,  <vi 

The  Puritan  historian's  assertions  are,  moreover, 
proved  to  be  false  by  historical  facts,  and  are  re- 
futed by  the  practice  of  modern  times.  The  former 
part  of  this  particular  I  shall  point  out  as  I  pro- 
ceed ;  the  latter  part  may  be  discussed  in  a  few 
words.  "  No  bishop,  no  king,"  was  a  favourite 
phrase  among  their  party,  which  they  faithfully  re- 
peated from  James,  who  had  jocularly  used  it  on 
one  occasion.  But  granting  its  absurdity,  had  it 
been  seriously  used,  the  practice  of  the  Puritans, 
and  indeed  their  language,  may  justly  be  retorted 
upon  them  with  no  less  acrimony,  for  it  was  with 
them  virtually,  No  Puritans,  no  freedom ;  no  Cal- 
vinism, no  religion  ;  no  Presbytery,  no  true  church- 
government  ;  no  opposition  to  Episcopacy,  no  li- 


64  .0  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

berty  of  conscience !  And,  let  it  be  noted,  the  writer 
who  has  faithfully  recorded  this  phrase,  and  his 
partizans  who  believe  it  true,  are  the  very  persons 
whose  conduct  displays  that  heated  imagination 
which  will  not  allow  men  to  think  with  candour, 
and  reason  with  impartiality.  It  has,  indeed,  been 
again  and  again  asserted  by  the  Presbyterians  of 
the  north,  and  the  Dissenters  of  the  south,  and  in 
this  they  make  a  most  deplorable  display  of  igno- 
rance, that  Episcopacy  did  not  exist  before  it  was 
countenanced  by  the  civil  power  :  that  it  was  readily 
adopted  by  those  monarchs  who  aimed  at  arbitrary 
government  and  despotism :  and  that  it  is  merely  a 
worldly  hierarchy,  existing  solely  by  the  support 
and  protection  of  the  secular  arm  :  therefore,  ac- 
cording to  these  speculators,  there  can  be  no  Epis- 
copacy where  there  is  no  monarchy — no  Episcopacy 
where  there  is  no  civil  support.  The  first  and 
second  of  these  assertions  will  come  under  my 
notice  in  another  place :  let  me  therefore  make  a 
single  remark  on  the  third,  and  on  the  natural  in- 
ference which  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  facts.  In  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  which  it  yet  remains 
to  be  shewn  whether  the  government,  or  that  of  the 
monarchy  of  England,  is  the  wiser  and  the  better, 
notwithstanding  the  high  encomiums  which  have 
been  passed  on  that  republicanism  by  certain  men 
in  this  country, — under  a  government  which  pro- 
fesses to  countenance  no  religion  at  all,  but  to  pro- 
tect every  sect,  however  absurd  and  ridiculous  its 
belief,  however  infidel  and  deluding, — in  that  coun- 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  65 

try,  where,  notwithstanding  its  many  works  of  reli- 
gious philanthropy,  infidelity  stalks  abroad,  shew- 
ing its  gorgon  head,  and  ejecting  its  deadly  poison, 
there  is  a  branch  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  having 
dioceses  and  regularly  consecrated  bishops,  who  by 
their  practice  conform  to  every  apostolical  and  pri- 
mitive injunction — which  Church,  to  say  the  least, 
ranks  the  third  in  point  of  numbers  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  first  in  point  of  the  learning  and 
moral  worth  of  its  clergy,  and  its  conformity  to 
apostolical  truth  and  primitive  order.  Here,  then,  is 
a  church,  a  branch  of  the  ancient  Episcopal  Church, 
which  has  bishops,  where  there  is  "  no  king ;"  and 
which  is  not  only  existing,  but  reckons  an  increase  of 
its  members  every  year.  This  fact,  therefore,  proves 
the  fallaciousness  and  ignorance  of  the  assertion, 
that  Episcopacy  is  dependent  upon  monarchy,  and 
cannot  prosper  without  it ;  which  is  refuted  by 
Presbyterianism  being  now  the  legal  establishment 
of  Scotland,  which,  though  professing  to  be  repub- 
lican and  free  in  its  constitution,  nevertheless  is 
closely  allied  to  the  state,  and  exists  as  an  establish- 
ment by  its  protection  from  the  secular  power. 

But  there  is  another  proof,  which  in  a  discussion 
of  this  nature,  and  especially  in  a  narrative  of 
Laud's  life  and  times,  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 
I  allude  to  that  venerable  and  primitive,  though 
humble  and  depressed  communion,  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Scotland,  about  which  it  will  be  my  duty 
hereafter  to  say  much  in  detail.  This  small  suffer- 
ing Church,  in  whose  welfare  Laud  in  his  prosperous 

VOL.  I.  F 


66  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

days  interested  himself  so  greatly,  has  existed  since 
the  Revolution  in  a  state  of  total  neglect,  at  which 
period  it  ceased  to  be  the  Established  Church,  not 
because  William  III.  had  any  particular  partiality 
for  Presbyterianism,  although  a  Calvinist,  for  he 
solemnly  declared  to  Bishop  Rose  of  Edinburgh,  at 
the  Hague,  that  he  would  preserve  it,  but  because 
the  bishops  and  clergy,  from  conscientious  motives, 
would  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Nay,  this 
Church  has  not  only  existed  without  the  slightest 
support  or  patronage  from  the  secular  power,  but 
even  when  its  clergy  were  proscribed  and  punished, 
if  found  "  worshipping  God  after  the  manner  of 
their  fathers,"  when  its  members  were  prohibited 
from  assembling  themselves  together,  and  when 
their  chapels  were  plundered  and  destroyed  by  out- 
rageous and  ignorant  mobs  of  Presbyterians.  Nor 
was  this  the  procedure  of  that  age  of  strife,  turbu- 
lence, and  sedition,  when  the  zealots  of  the  Cove- 
nant drew  the  sword,  and  threw  the  scabbard  away, 
but  it  was  the  procedure  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  the  vengeance  of  the  government  was  wreaked 
on  the  unfortunate  Episcopalians  of  Scotland,  as  if 
they  had  been  the  chief  ringleaders  of  the  insurrec- 
tion of  1745.  The  Episcopal  clergy  had  been  rab- 
bled out  (as  it  was  called)  from  their  livings  on  the 
triumph  of  Presbytery  in  1688,  nor  were  the  insults 
few  which  they  experienced  from  the  stern  and  in- 
tolerant Calvinists.  But  with  a  purpose  still  more 
malignant,  more  than  half  a  century  after  that  event, 
the  Presbyterians  made  ample  retaliation  for  the 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  67 

persecutions  which  their  fathers  were  said  to  have 
undergone,  and  which  they  most  unjustly  and  igno  - 
rantly  ascribed  to  the  Church.  At  that  time,  they 
procured  edicts  from  the  court,  not  only  against  the 
Episcopalians  of  Scotland,  but  against  their  re- 
ligion itself1;  and  some  of  the  clergy  were  actually 
imprisoned  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  for 
officiating  according  to  the  established  ritual  of  the 
Church.  Nor  was  it  till  within  the  last  thirty  years 
that  those  penal  acts  were  removed,  which  so  dis- 
gracefully oppressed  this  humble  Church,  under 
which  it  laboured  long,  without  exciting  the  commi- 
seration of  the  more  flourishing  Church  of  England. 
And  at  this  moment,  what  are  the  prospects  of  this 
our  Church  in  Scotland  ?  We  rejoice  to  know  that 
it  is  advancing  in  popular  opinion,  which  must  be 
the  case  in  proportion  as  men  become  more  enlight- 
ened ;  that  it  can  reckon  a  considerable  number  of 
chapels  within  the  five  dioceses,  and  that  it  can 
boast  of  a  clergy  who  are  riot,  for  learning,  in  any 
respect,  behind  their  more  favoured  neighbours  of 
England.  Here,  then,  is  another  branch  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  existing,  as  if  in  a  republic, 
without  any  protection  from  the  state  save  tolera- 
tion ;  and  yet  the  episcopal  order  is  preserved  with- 
out the  slightest  variation.  This  is  a  powerful  argu- 
ment against  the  maxim  on  which  the  Puritans  have 
expatiated  so  copiously,  "  no  bishop,  no  king," 

1  The  reader  will  find  this  subject  copiously  treated  in  the, 
Continuation  to  Bishop  Keith's  Catalogue  of  the  Scottish  Bishops, 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Russel  of  Leith. 

F  2 


68  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

Having  made  these  remarks,  it  is  needless  to  en- 
large farther  on  the  religious  state  of  the  kingdom 
at  the  accession  of  James.  The  Puritans,  who  had 
indulged  in  the  most  sanguine  hopes,  and  who  had 
thought  proper  to  make  some  innovations  in  the 
Church,  were  extremely  mortified  at  the  king's  pro- 
clamation, that  no  alteration  was  to  take  place  in 
the  doctrine  and  discipline.  They  were  not,  how- 
ever, all  animated  with  the  same  spirit,  nor  inclined 
to  proceed  at  the  very  outset  to  unwarrantable  ex- 
tremes ;  for  though  they  were  all  inclined  to  Pres- 
byterianisrn,  and  secretly  designed  the  downfall  of 
the  Church,  "  they  disliked,"  says  Collier,  "  those 
sallies  of  zeal,  and  resolved  to  manage  by  a  more 
regular  motion."  Accordingly,  they  appointed 
meetings  among  themselves  ;  and,  after  a  long  de- 
liberation, they  presented  a  petition  to  the  king, 
entitled,  ' '  The  humble  petition  of  certain  Ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England,  desiring  reformation  of 
sundry  ceremonies  and  abuses."  This  petition, 
known  as  the  famous  Millenary  Petition,  because, 
it  was  alleged  to  have  been  subscribed  by  a  thou- 
sand Puritan  ministers,  though  it  wanted,  at  the 
least  two  hundred  to  complete  that  number  l,  was 
presented  in  the  month  of  April,  1603.  Its  pream- 
ble was  set  forth  by  a  denial  that  they  "  were  fac- 
tious men,  affecting  a  popular  party  in  the  Church," 
or  that  they  were  "  schismatics,  aiming  at  the  dis- 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  672.     Neal's  History  of 
the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  5, 


J604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  69 

solution  of  the  state  ecclesiastical  •;"  but  affirming 
that  they  were  "  faithful  ministers  of  Christ,  and 
loyal  subjects  to  his  Majesty ;"  and  that  they  groaned 
"under  the  burden  of  human  rites  and  ceremonies  :" 
and  they  proceeded  to  enumerate  their  desires  of 
reformation  in  four  heads ;  namely,  in  the  church 
service ;  concerning  ministers ;  about  church  liv- 
ings ;  and  on  church  discipline.  As  this  petition, 
though  written  in  plausible  language,  and  making 
no  express  remonstrance  against  Episcopacy,  or  the 
service  of  the  Liturgy,  bore  generally  against  the 
whole  practice  of  the  Church,  the  Universities  in- 
stantly opposed  it,  as  they  were  more  likely  to  dis- 
cover the  designs  of  the  Puritans,  from  the  numbers 
who  resided  within  their  walls.  An  order  passed  at 
a  Congregation  in  Cambridge,  ordaining  that  he 
who  wrote  against  the  Church,  or  opposed  in  any 
way  the  doctrine  and  discipline,  should  be  sus- 
pended from  all  his  degrees,  and  be  deprived  of 
taking  others  at  any  future  period  l.  Instructions 
were  also  given  to  draw  out  an  answer  to  the  peti- 
tion ;  but  the  heads  of  colleges  at  Cambridge,  being 
informed  that  an  answer  was  in  a  state  of  consi- 
derable forwardness  at  Oxford,  contented  them- 
selves with  merely  writing  a  letter  of  thanks  to  that 
University  for  its  zeal  and  activity. 

Laud  had  by  this  time  been  chosen  Proctor  for 

1  Collier,  ut  sup.  p.  673.  Fuller's  Church  History,  p.  22. 
Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  267.  Neal,  vol.  ii. 
p.  7. 


70  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

the  University  of  Oxford,  his  appointment  to  that 
office  being  dated  May  4, 1603 l.  Although  he  took 
no  remarkable  share  in  the  answer  to  the  Millenary 
Petition,  he  yet  exerted  all  his  influence  to  thwart 
the  craftiness  and  smoothness  which  were  concealed 
therein.  He  penetrated  into  its  design,  and  as  it 
had  been  strongly  rumoured  that  some  of  the 
Scots  Presbyterians  at  court  had  promised  to  aid 
it  with  all  their  influence,  thereby  furthering  the 
views  of  their  Calvinistic  friends  in  the  north,  and 
as  he  saw,  moreover,  that  its  success  would  prove 
the  destruction  not  only  of  the  Church,  but  also  of 
the  Universities,  he  lent  his  efficient  aid  to  the  re- 
ply, entitled,  "  An  Answer  of  the  Vice-Chancellor, 
Doctors,  Proctors,  &c.  in  the  University  of  Oxford, 
to  the  Petition  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Church  of 
England  desiring  Reformation."  In  this  petition, 
the  University  justly  charges  the  Puritans  with 
false  conduct,  in  first  subscribing,  and  then  com- 
plaining of  those  things  which  they  had  subscribed. 
They  are  asserted  to  be  factious  men,  and  some 
severe  but  just  remarks  are  made  on  the  Scotch 
reformation,  and  the  intemperate  zeal  for  novelty 
which  characterized  those  who  were  embroiling  the 
Church  in  that  kingdom.  A  severe  censure,  too, 
is  passed  therein  on  the  intolerance  of  Presbyte- 
rianism,  as  it  was  displayed  among  the  Scots,  by 
which  every  preacher  carried  himself  in  the  most 
domineering  manner,  not  only  towards  his  equals 

1  Diary,  p.  2. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  71 

•who  differed  from  him,  but  even  towards  those  who 
conducted  the  government. 

Nothing,  in  truth,  could  be  more  unfair  than  the 
conduct  of  the  Puritans  on  this  occasion.     Besides 
giving  occasion  to  a  multitude  of  smaller  petitions 
from  all  quarters  of  the  country,  they  had  not  the 
manliness  to  declare,  that  they  wished  the  extirpa- 
tion of  Episcopacy,  and  the  establishment  of  Pres- 
byterianism,that  irreverent  offspring  of  a  foreign  soil> 
but  they  adopted  covert  language,  and  affected  the 
greatest  piety  and  moderation.  The  measures  which 
they  tpok  to  procure  subscriptions,  too,  were  cha- 
racteristic of  the  party.    The  chief  petition,  indeed, 
was  subscribed  only  by  ministers,  but  the  minor 
ones  were  subscribed  by  every  person  who  could 
scrawl  his  own  name.     "  Sure  I  am,"  says  Fuller1, 
"  the  prelatical  party  complained,  that  to  swell  a 
number,  the  non-conformists  did  not  choose,  but 
scrape  subscribers,  not  to  speak  of  the  ubiquita- 
riness  of  some  hands,  the  same  being  always  pre- 
sent at  all  petitions.     Indeed,    to   the  first  only 
ministers  were  admitted,  but  to  the  latter  brood  of 
petitions,  no  hand  which  had  five  fingers  was  re- 
fused.    Insomuch,  that  Master  George  (now  Lord) 
Goring,  who  then  knew  little,  and  cared  less,  for 
Church  government,  as  unable  to  govern  himself, 
being  then  (fifty  years  since,)  rather  a  youth  than 
a  man,  a  boy  than  a  youth,  set  his  hand  thereto,  in 
the  right,  I  believe,  of  his  mother,  a  good  lady, 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  24. 


72        ,  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

and  much  inclined  to  that  party :  and  King  James 
would  in  merriment  make  sport  with  him,  to  know, 
what  reasons  moved  him  at  that  age  to  this  sub- 
scription." 

The  result  of  this  petition  was  the  famous  Hamp- 
ton Court  Conference,  held  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1604.  In  this  procedure  the  king  acted  contrary 
to  the  practice  of  his  predecessor.  Elizabeth  con- 
ceived that  public  religious  disputations  frequently 
induced  disorders,  and  therefore  she  avoided  them 
altogether ;  but  James  was  of  a  different  opinion, 
and  resolved  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  paving 
a  public  debate,  and  perhaps  making  a  display  of  his 
learning,  of  which  he  was  exceedingly  vain;  He 
accordingly  issued  a  summons  to  each  party  for  this 
Conference.  The  commissioners  of  the  Church 
were  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of 
London,  Durham,  Winchester,  Worcester,  St.  Da- 
vid's, Chichester,  Peterborough,  and  Carlisle,  the 
Deans  of  Westminster,  St.  Paul's,  Christ  Church, 
Worcester,  Salisbury,  Chester,  and  Windsor,  with 
Dr.  King,  the  Archdeacon  of  Nottingham,  and  Dr. 
Field,  afterwards  Dean  of  Gloucester.  The  Mil- 
lenary petitioners,  on  their  side,  sent  only  four  de- 
legates— Dr.  John  Reynolds,  already  mentioned, 
and  Dr.  Thomas  Sparke,  from  Oxford  ;  Messrs. 
Chadderton  and  Knewstubbe,  from  Cambridge  l. 
The  Conference  lasted  three  days,  and  ultimately 

1  The  Sum  and  Substance  of  the  Hampton  Court  Conference, 
by  William  Barlow,  D.D.  and  Dean  of  Chester,  London,  1604. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  73 

ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  Nonconformists.  It  pro- 
duced, however,  some  alterations  in  the  Liturgy. 
The  baptizing  of  children  by  women  was  forbid- 
den :  in  the  rubric  of  absolution,  the  words,  the  re- 
mission of  sins,  were  inserted  :  confirmation  was 
termed  an  examination  of  children :  some  words 
were  altered  in  the  Gospels ;  and  it  was  resolved 
at  this  Conference,  in  fine,  that  there  should  be  a 
new  translation  of  the  Bible l.  This  most  import- 
ant of  all  points,  was  speedily  carried  into  effect, 
and  our  present  translation  is  the  version  which 
was  produced  by  the  famous  Conference  at  Hamp- 
ton Court 2. 


1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  21. 

*  The  changes,  to  be  more  particular,  were  as  follows.  In  the 
general  absolution,  after  the  confession  of  sin,  the  words  the  re- 
mission of  sins,  were  added.  In  the  office  for  baptism,  instead 
of  let  them  that  be  present,  we  now  have,  "  let  the  lawful  minister 
and  them  that  be  present."  See  some  other  minor  changes,  on 
comparing  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  printed  in  1599,  with 
that  of  1 61 5.  Dr.  Reynolds  and  his  three  friends  were  satisfied 
with  these  changes  and  explanations,  and  promised  to  render  due 
obedience  to  their  ecclesiastical  superiors.  The  thanksgivings, 
added  on  this  occasion,  were  those  for  rain,  fair  weather,  plenty, 
peace,  and  victory,  and  for  deliverance  from  the  plague,  with  a 
few  additions  to  the  Catechism.  Vide  Records,  apud  Collier's 
Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.  No.  C.  from  the  Paper  Office.  I  ex- 
tract the  last  particular,  under  "  the  fourth  head  to  be  reformed 
rather  by  care  of  good  magistrates,  than  by  straitness  of  law." 
*  Lastly,  for  matter  of  ceremonies  and  order,  being  thought  in- 
different, that  the  rule  of  the  apostle  be  kept,  that  all  things  be 
done  to  edification,  that  so  neither  grave,  sober,  and  peaceable 
persons  be  not  too  far  urged  at  first,  nor  turbulent  and  unquiet 


74  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

Neal,  the  Puritan  historian,  speaks  of  this  Con- 
ference with  great  contempt.  He  calls  it  "  a  mock 
conference,"  and  insinuates  that  the  commissioners 
of  the  Church  had  transacted  matters  with  the  king 
before  the  appointed  time.  Reynolds,  it  would  ap- 
pear, lost  the  favour  of  his  party ;  and  though 
Neal  well  knew  that  he  was  defeated  in  the  argu- 
ment, he  accounts  for  it  by  asserting,  that  it  was 
nothing  wonderful,  "  being  overawed  by  the  place 
and  company,  and  his  sovereign  as  his  opponent." 
The  Puritans,  indeed,  sent  forth  numerous  misrepre- 
sentations of  this  Conference,  being  enraged  at  the 
keen  disappointment.  They  asserted,  that  the 
King  had  summoned  their  delegates,  not  to  hear 
them  debate,  but  to  inform  them  of  his  pleasure ; 
not  to  know  what  they  wished  to  say,  but  to  let 
them  know  what  he  resolved  to  do.  They  charged 
Dr.  Barlow  with  giving  a  partial  account  of  the  dis- 
putation, alleging,  that  as  he  was  then  a  professed 
enemy,  it  must  follow  that  his  account  was  false. 
But  the  conduct  of  the  King  during  the  conference 
deserves  the  highest  applause  ;  and  from  the  re- 
marks on  Dr.  Barlow's  narrative,  it  is  evident  that 
the  Puritans  were  not  an  order  of  men  at  all  inclined 
to  learn  truth  even  from  an  enemy.  Though  Neal 
asserts,  that  the  primate  and  his  brethren  had  been 
indefatigable  in  possessing  the  King  with  their  opi- 

ry  "<  •"'  '.'ii'V     ;> 

persons,  and  true  spirits,  to  do  what  they  list.  These,"  it  i& 
added,  "  are  the  conclusions  of  this  conference,  wherein  his  Ma- 
jesty sat  as  moderator  to  the  great  admiration  of  all." 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  75 

nions  of  the  excellency  of  the  English  hierarchy,  as 
resembling  the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church,  and 
best  suited  to  monarchical  government,  thereby  in- 
sinuating, according  to  custom,  that  his  friends  re- 
ceived unfair  treatment ;  yet  the  observations  which 
James  made  are  honourable  to  his  talents,  and  cre- 
ditable to  his  learning.  It  was  no  hasty  tutorage 
which  induced  that  prince  to  decide ;  indeed,  it  was 
by  no  means  easy  to  control  him  in  points  which 
related  to  theological  speculations.  But  the  Puri- 
tans did  not  stop  with  these  insinuations ;  numerous 
pamphlets  were  printed  and  circulated  among  their 
associates,  in  which  they  abused  Dr.  Barlow,  who 
had  published  an  account  of  the  conference.  "  Not- 
withstanding," says  Collier,  te  the  Nonconformists 
came  off  with  disadvantage,  they  gave  out  the  news 
of  their  having  gained  an  absolute  victory  :  and  for 
this  purpose  they  affirmed,  that  the  King  had  gra- 
tified Dr.  Reynolds  "in  every  thing  desired;  that 
these  concessions  (the  alterations  in  the  Liturgy) 
were  but  the  beginnings  of  reformation  ;  and  that 
greater  things  were  expected ;  that  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  was  silent  upon  the  matter ;  that  the 
Bishop  of  London  called  Dr.  Reynolds  a  schismatic, 
but  said  little  to  the  purpose ;  that  the  King  treated 
the  bishops  haughtily,  but  was  kind  and  caressing  to 
Dr.  Reynolds ;  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  the  Bishop  of  London,  kneeling  to  the  King, 
entreated  his  Majesty  to  take  their  cause  into  his 
own  hands,  and  put  such  an  end  to  it  as  might  not 


76  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

injure  their  reputation  V  'Neal,  of  course,  has 
given  his  own  account  of  it,  in  which  he  makes  his 
remarks  to  bear  against  Dr.  Barlow's  narrative,  and 
insinuates,  on  the  authority  of  a  Puritan  minister, 
that  Barlow  repented  on  his  death-bed  of  the  injus- 
tice he  had  done  the  Nonconformists :  forgetting 
that  the  Dean's  narrative  would  not  have  been  pub- 
lished at  all,  had  it  not  been  necessary  for  his  own 
vindication 2. 

After  this  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  king 
for  uniformity  in  discipline  and  worship ;  and  thus 

1  I  quote  another  specimen  of  the  Puritan  historian's  can- 
dour in  his  authorities.    "  The  Account  of  the  Conference,"  says 
he,  "  was  published  only  by  Dr.  Barlow,  who  being  a  party-man, 
(says  Fuller),  set  a  sharp  edge  on  his  own,  and  a  blunt  one  on  his 
adversaries'  weapons."  (Vol.  ii.  p.  11.)     Now,  from  this  we  na- 
turally would  conclude,  that  these  are  Fuller's  exact  words,  and 
bearing  quite  to  the  point ;  but  no  such  thing.     Neal  was  not 
over-scrupulous  in  giving  new  and  improved  versions  of  his  quo- 
tations.    The  passage  in  Fuller  is  simply  this  :  after  remarking 
that  the  Puritans  complained  that  only  Dr.  B.,  their  professed 
enemy,  (there  is  nothing  about  party-man)  had  given  a  narration 
of  the  affair,  to  their  own  disadvantage, — "  and  when  the  Israel- 
ites," says  Fuller,  "  go  down  to  the  Philistines,  to  whet  all  their 
own  tools,  no  wonder  if  they  set  a  sharp  edge  on  their  own,  and  a 
blunt  one  on  their  enemies'  weapons."    (Book  x.  p.  21.)     Com- 
ment is  needless,  when  these  two  passages  are  compared.     It  is 
no  doubt  a  trifling  circumstance,  yet  it  goes  far  to  let  us  know  the 
method  of  the  Puritans  in  taking  advantage  of  their  authors. 

2  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  683.     The  object  of  Dr. 
Barlow's  publication  was  to  remove  the  aspersions  which  were 
cast  on  himself  and  some  prelates,  particularly  the  Primate,  and 
the  Bishops  of  London  and  Winchester. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  77 

the  Puritans  retired  from  the  Conference  completely 
overcome.     No  doubt  they  craved  time  to  give  in 
their  answers,  but  this  was  the  result  of  their  cause, 
that  they  must  have  time  to  reflect  before  they  came 
to  a  decision.     On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  senti- 
ments of  the  royal  proclamation  were  rigidly  just : 
"  that  they  (the  Nonconformists)  did  absolutely  use 
a  form  of  prayer  of  their  own ;  held  assemblies  with- 
out authority;  and  did  other  things,  carrying  a  very 
apparent  shew  of  sedition  more  than  zeal :  that  the 
success  of  the  Conference  was  that,  which  happens 
to  many  other  things,  which  give  great  expectation 
before  they  are  closely  examined  :  that  he  found 
strong  remonstrances  supported   by  such  slender 
proofs,  that  both  himself  and  his  council  perceived 
there  was  no  ground  for  any  change  in  those  things 
which  were  loudly  clamoured  against :  that  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Esta- 
blished Church,  were  both  unexceptionable ;  and  as 
to  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  they  had  the  practice 
of  the  primitive  Church  to  plead  in  their  defence  : 
and,  lastly,  that  notwithstanding,  with  the  consent 
of  the  bishops,  and  other  learned  men,  some  passages 
were  rather  explained  than  altered;  yet,  with  a  rea- 
sonable construction,  every  thing  might  very  well 
have  stood  in  its  former  condition."    The  king  then 
proceeds  to  enjoin  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  on  all  his  subjects,  civil  and  ecclesiastical; 
and  commands  offenders  to  be  punished  agreeably  to 
the  laws  of  the  realm.     In  fine,  he  admonishes  all 
his  subjects,  of  what  rank  soever,  not  to  expect  any 


78  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

alteration  in  the  public  service ;  and  that  he  would 
give  no  persons  any  occasion  to  presume  that  his  re- 
solution, so  maturely  settled,  could  be  removed  by 
any  frivolous  suggestions ;  neither  was  he  ignorant 
how  much  a  government  must  suffer  by  admitting 
innovations,  and  departing  from  things  settled  after 
a  thorough  debate.  And  yet,  such  is  the  levity  of 
some  men,  that  they  are  always  languishing  after 
change  and  novelty ;  insomuch,  that  were  they  to 
be  humoured  in  their  inconstancy,  they  would  ex- 
pose the  public  management,  and  make  the  admi- 
nistration ridiculous l. 

In  these  remarks  I  feel  persuaded  that  all  judi- 
cious men  will  coincide.  Our  own  experience  in  the 
ordinary  business  of  life,  as  well  as  our  observation, 
must  corroborate  them ;  and  if  this  "  desultory  le- 
vity" be  observed  in  common  affairs,  and  be  natural 
to  some  people,  is  it  not  much  more  likely  that  in 
religion,  a  subject  on  which,  above  all  others,  men 
disagree,  it  will  be  more  prevalent  ?  If  religious 
matters  must  invariably  appear  different  to  differ- 
ent individuals,  what  would  be  the  consequence 
were  every  impulse  of  methodistical  enthusiasm  to 
be  regarded  ?  But  let  us  hear  Neal  on  this  pro- 
clamation. "  It  was  a  high  strain  of  the  preroga- 
tive to  alter  a  form  of  worship  established  by  law 
merely  by  a  royal  proclamation,  without  consent  of 
parliament  or  convocation ;  for  by  the  same  autho- 
rity that  his  Majesty  altered  one  article  in  the  Li- 
Jfs  aifai  K^.L>  :  r \3aii  id  °fo  ,o  valVrft 

1  Proclamation  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  printed  1615. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  79 

turgy,  he  might  set  aside  the  whole ;  for  every  sen- 
tence was  equally  established  by  act  of  parliament : 
but  this  wise  monarch  made  no  scruple  of  dispensing 
with  the  laws.  However,  the  validity  of  all  procla- 
mations determining  with  the  king's  life,,  and  there 
being  no  subsequent  act  of  parliament  to  establish 
these  amendments,  it  was  argued  very  justly  in  the 
next  reign  that  this  was  not  the  Liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England  established  by  law,  and  conse- 
quently not  binding  upon  the  clergy."  Now,  Neal 
should  have  told  us  by  whom  this  was  justly  argued, 
though  we  know  well  it  was  by  one  of  the  most  vio- 
lent republican  Puritans.  Yet  this  writer  should 
have  established  his  first  assertion,  in  order  to  make 
out  an  argument,  before  he  laid  before  us  a  second, 
and  proved  to  us  wherein  James  "  altered  one  arti- 
cle in  the  Liturgy,"  or  what  he  meant  by  "  one 
article  !"  James  himself,  in  his  declaration,  says, 
that, with  consent  of  the  bishops  and  other  learned 
men,  some  passages  had  rather  been  explained  than 
altered  ;  yet,  with  a  reasonable  construction,  every 
thing  might  very  well  have  stood  in  itsformer  con- 
dition; and,  in  fact,  he  had  no  intention  of  altering 
at  all.  Where,  then,  consisted  the  "  high  strain- 
ing of  the  prerogative,"  or  the  "  altering  of  a  form 
of  worship  established  by  law  ?"  Had  the  form  of 
worship  really  been  altered,  according  to  the  literal 
meaning  of  that  expression,  that  is,  had  there  been 
an  alteration  from  Episcopacy  to  Popery  or  Pres- 
bytery, it  would  truly  "have  been  a  high  strain 
of  the  prerogative  "  to  have  done  so  by  a  royal  pro- 
7 


80  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604, 

clamation  merely,  "  without  the  consent  of  the  par- 
liament or  convocation :"  although  I  may  remark 
by  the  way,  that  the  Puritan  ministers  in  this  Con- 
ference, when  pressing  James  to  make  complete 
alterations,  spoke  neither  of  parliament  nor  convo- 
cation, but  fell  on  their  knees  before  him,  and  ad- 
dressed him  as  if  he,  in  his  own  person,  and  by  his 
own  command,  could  alter  the  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution. And  had  James  gratified  their  desires,  whe- 
ther he  consulted  the  parliament  and  convocation 
or  not,  we  should  have  heard  nothing  about  the 
"  mock  conference,"  or  the  "  high  strain  of  the  pre- 
rogative;" but,  on  the  contrary,  we  should  have 
had  a  complete  defence  of  every  step  taken  in  the 
affair.  Such  is  the  inconsistency  of  the  men  who 
have  asserted,  that  the  freedom  of  our  country  is 
owing  to  the  rigid  adherence  of  the  Puritans  to  the 
doctrines  of  Calvin.  But  had  Neal  only  read  the 
thirty- seventh  Article,  he  might  have  seen  what  the 
fathers  of  the  English  Church  meant  by  the  royal 
prerogative,  with  which  James'  conduct  was  in  strict 
accordance ;  and  as  that  Article,  with  the  others,  had 
been  ratified  both  by  parliament  and  the  convoca- 
tion in  1571 ;  and  as  not  only  the  bishops,  and  other 
learned  men,  but  the  privy  council  (a  fact  which 
Neal  forgets)  were  present  at  this  Conference,  there 
was  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  a  high  straining  of 
the  prerogative  in  this  royal  proclamation,,  inasmuch 
as  James  acted  solely  with  the  power  vested  in  him 
by  the  constitution.  Had  he,  I  repeat,  "  altered 
one  article  in  the  Liturgy,"  with  the  consent  of  the 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  81 

t 

civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  he  would  have 
"  strained  his  prerogative/'  and  acted  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  laws.  But  it  does  not  follow, 
that  the  "  explaining,  rather  than  altering,"  to 
quote  from  this  very  proclamation,  "  some  pas- 
sages," which,  "  with  a  reasonable  construction," 
might  have  "  stood  in  their  former  condition,"  is 
an  altering  of  articles,  in  the  meaning  which  is  at- 
tached to  that  expression.  In  short,  James  merely 
modified  a  few  phrases,  so  far  as  the  language  was 
concerned  ;  but  no  article  or  doctrine  was  altered, 
which  Neal  either  knew,  or  might  have  known,  had 
he  examined  the  subject,  and  compared  the  royal 
proclamation  with  this  pretended  "  straining  of  the 
prerogative,"  and  alteration  of  the  Articles. 

Much,  indeed,  might  be  said  on  this  subject, 
more  especially  as  the  Puritans  took  occasion  to 
misrepresent  this  famous  Conference,  which,  had  it 
done  nothing  more,  is  entitled  to  the  veneration 
and  gratitude  of  posterity,  for  giving  rise  to  the 
translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Meeting,  there- 
fore, all  Neal's  assertions,  and  reprobating  his  ca- 
lumnies, and  the  falsehoods  which  he  has  repeated 
to  serve  his  purpose,  along  with  his  garbled  ex- 
tracts from,  and  misrepresentations  of,  the  language 
of  his  antagonists,  his  remark  is  utterly  ground- 
less, that  if  "  his  Majesty  altered  one  article  in  the 
Liturgy,  he  might  set  aside  the  whole,"  Having 
seen  that  he  has  here  perverted  truth,  by  calling  the 
mere  modification  of  a  sentence,  the  changing  of 

VOL.  I.  G 


82 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1604. 


an  article  of  religion, — not  less  ambiguous  is  the 
meaning  of  the  next  observation,  that  "  every 
sentence  was  equally  established  by  act  of  Par- 
liament." Now,  this,  in  effect,  is  either  ignorance 
or  malice,  for  though  the  Parliament  has  rati- 
fied all  which  the  Liturgy  contains,  and  has  en- 
joined that  it  be  daily  used  at  morning  and  evening 
prayer,  yet  it  has  not  ratified  every  individual 
word,  as  if  there  were  no  other  words  of  the  same 
meaning,  or  as  if  the  mere  modification  or  explain- 
ing of  a  sentence  were  the  alteration  of  an  article  of 
belief.  The  prohibition  merely  is,  that  no  person 
shall  explain  away  the  Articles  from  their  literal  and 
grammatical  sense,  and  force  a  construction  upon 
them  which  it  was  never  intended  they  should 
admit,  to  suit  his  own  purposes  of  private  inter- 
pretation— a  prohibition  which  is  imperatively  ne- 
cessary, seeing  the  fondness  of  some  men  for 
authority  in  their  religious  frenzies.  And  as  to 
the  puerile  argument  used,  it  would  appear  "  very 
justly  in  the  next  reign,  that  this  was  not  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  established  by 
law,  and  consequently  not  binding  upon  the  clergy," 
merely,  forsooth,  because  the  slight  explanation  of 
some  sentences  had  been  given  in  James*  reign,  it 
is  evident  that  it  was  a  mere  quibble,  employed  by 
those  violent  and  fanatical  republicans,  who  were 
mustering  their  forces  to  overturn  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  constitution,  in  which  unhappily  they 
too  well  succeeded.  But  it  was  characteristic  of 

7 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  83 

the  Puritans,  whose  determined  hostility  to  the 
Church,  because  their  Calvinistic  prejudices  were 
not  gratified,  requires  no  comment. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  puritanical   objections 
to  the  Church  of  England  must  evidently  appear 
to  be  weak  and  trifling.     Indeed,  they  themselves 
acknowledged  that  the  "  common  burden  of  rites 
and  ceremonies"  under  which  they  professed  "  to 
groan,"  were  in  themselves  immaterial,  and  did  not 
affect  or  endanger  salvation.     Where,  then,  was 
their  vantage-ground  ?  Where  their  justification  for 
that  fanatical  schism  which  they  were  the  means  of 
introducing  ?    Where  their  defence  for  that  alleged 
spirituality  and  "  godly  reformation,"  about  which 
they  clamoured  so  violently  ?    If  they  were  of  little 
consequence,  why  not  adopt  them,  since  they  were 
agreed   to   by  the  whole  Church, — if  there  was 
nothing  in  the  Scriptures  against  them,  why  strain 
the  language   of  scriptural  truth  by  far-fetched  in- 
ductions and  illustrations  to  oppose  them  ?     They 
said  they  were  of  little  consequence ;  on  their  own 
shewing,  therefore,  they  could  do  no  harm :  but 
if  they  could  be  proved  to  have  been  the  practice 
of  the  primitive  Church,  then  they  must  be  in 
themselves  not  only  useful,   but  laudable,  and,  if 
not  repugnant  to  God's  holy  word,  tending  to  edi- 
fication.    If  they  were  agreed  to  by  the  Church  in 
general,  ought  the  greater  number  to  yield  to  the 
lesser?     The   case,   in   short,   stands   thus:    The 
Church,  after   the   Reformation,    adopted  certain 
rites  and  ceremonies  which  were  practised  in  the 

G  2 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1604. 


apostolical  and  primitive  times,  and  certainly  what 
was  then  practised  is  at  least  entitled  to  some 
authority ;  but  a  few  men  start  up  and  argue,  that 
they  cannot  agree  to  these  things,  they  find  no 
command  for  them  in  the  Scriptures,  their  con- 
sciences are  wounded,  they  must  be  given  up. 
What  then  ?  There  is  no  direct  authority  for  the 
change  from  the  Jewish  Sabbath  to  the  Christian ; 
not  a  single  passage  is  there  to  support  this  act  of 
the  Church  :  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  tradition,  ought 
tradition,  then,  to  be  rejected  because  it  is  so  ?  A 
Puritan,  if  he  be  consistent,  must  reject  it.  I 
could  adduce  other  facts,  assented  to  by  the  Pu- 
ritans themselves,  which  rest  merely  on  tradition, 
though  it  is  needless  ;  nay,  is  it  not  evident,  that  the 
ascertaining  of  the  number  and  extent  of  the  canon- 
ical books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  is  a 
matter  of  literary  research,  there  not  being  a  single 
command  in  these  books  as  to  their  direct  limita- 
tion ?  If,  therefore,  the  individual  consciences  of 
a  few  men  were  wounded,  is  that  a  sufficient  reason 
to  justify  schism?  Ought  they  not  to  have  known 
that  the  opinions  of  those  whom  they  opposed  were 
just  as  much  entitled  to  reverence  as  their  own  ? 
And  was  it  lawful  for  them,  who  were  but  few  in 
number,  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and 
harass  the  civil  power,  and,  on  being  defeated,  to 
give  utterance  to  their  feelings  in  foul  calumnies 
and  bitter  reproaches,  when  the  opinion  of  the 
Church  was,  at  least,  as  good  as  that  of  the  schis- 
matics ?  But  the  wildness  of  their  opinions  was  too 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  85 

well  known :  and  their  attachment  to  the  Calvi- 
nistic  novelties  met  with  a  deserved  opposition. 
They  had  some  years  before  been  most  active  in- 
struments in  a  conspiracy  against  Elizabeth ],  and 
now  they  were  again  sowing  the  seeds  of  national 
discontent :  they  were  contending,  in  a  word,  for 
an  exercise  of  religion,  which,  had  it  been  granted, 
would  have  been  productive  of  the  most  fearful 
absurdities  and  extravagances. 

Had  the  Puritans  soberly  weighed  the  Articles 
of  the  Church,  they  would  most  probably  have  re- 
flected before  they  proceeded  to  extremities.  I 
know  well  that  the  Article  to  which  I  am  about  to 
refer  is  unpopular  among  their  admirers,  but  it  does 
not  follow,  that,  because  a  proposition  is  unpopu- 
lar, it  is  not  true ;  for  the  most  wholesome  truths 
are  generally  those  which  are  ill-digested.  The 
20th  Article,  then,  contains  three  propositions  : — 
"  The  Church  hath  power  to  decree  rites  and  cere- 
monies, and  authority  in  matters  of  faith.  And  yet 
it  is  not  I  awful  for  the  Church  to  ordain  any  thing 
that  is  contrary  to  God's  word  written,  neither 
may  it  so  expound  Scripture  at  one  place  that  it 
be  repugnant  to  another."  The  truth  of  these 
propositions  is  evident.  For  what  is  the  Church  ? 
The  19th  Article  answers  the  question ;  and  there- 
fore, it  being  "  a  congregation  of  professing  Chris- 

1  Nichol's  Defence  of  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England,  p.  195.  Bishop  Madox's  Vindication  of 
the  Government,  &c.  of  the  Church,  p.  394. 


86 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1604. 


tians,"  met  together  for  the  hearing  of  the  word,  and 
the  administering  of  the  sacraments,  it  must  be  met 
together  under  some  particular  authority,  to  which 
all  men  profess  adherence  and  subjection,  when 
they  enter  this  voluntary  association.  The  autho- 
rity is  that  of  its  divine  Founder,  and  as  the 
Church  is  "  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world,"  that  is, 
a  spiritual  kingdom,  set  apart  from  the  civil  power, 
and  having  no  connexion  with  it  except  as  an  esta- 
blishment, not  requiring,  but  demanding  support, 
both  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  benefit  of  man, 
there  must  be  certain  officers  in  that  kingdom,  and 
certain  degrees,  too,  as  in  a  temporal  kingdom, — 
the  officers  to  be  an  order  peculiar  to  themselves, 
and  the  degrees  to  be  conferred  on  them  for  the 
government  of  the  Church  as  a  peculiar  govern- 
ment. The  Church,  then,  is  subject  to  human 
laws,  because  its  officers  and  members  are  subjects 
of  a  civil  government,  and  because  "  a  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand."  And  when  its  clergy 
meet  to  legislate,  they  meet  by  permission,  but  not 
in  the  name,  of  the  prince,  because  it  is  his  duty  to 
protect  all  his  subjects,  as  the  first  magistrate  of  the 
nation,  whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical.  These  offi- 
cers, therefore,  have  a  right  to  legislate,  in  virtue 
of  their  ordination,  to  exercise  "  authority  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,"  because  they  meet  in  the  name  of  the 
divine  Founder  of  the  Church,  if  they  expound  not 
"  one  place  of  holy  Scripture  that  it  be  repugnant 
to  another." 

But  from  the  conduct  of  the  Puritans  of  this 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  87 

period,  we  specially  learn  the  truth,  that  men  have 
often  become  violent  sticklers  for  forms,,  while  they 
forgot  more  essential  concerns ;  and  thus  they 
affected  to  see  a  merit  placed  in  things,  which  had 
actually  none.  If,  however,  they  had  perused  the 
discourse  which  is  prefixed  to  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  entitled,  <(  Of  Ceremonies,  why  some  may 
be  retained,  and  others  abolished,"  they  would 
have  seen  that  those  very  men  whom  they  con- 
demned as  being  semi-papists,  and  as  wishing  to 
make  them  "  groan  under  the  burden  of  rites  and 
ceremonies,"  which,  as  practised  in  the  Church  of 
England,  are  simple  and  edifying,  were  as  de- 
voted Protestants  as  themselves,  as  violent  enemies 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  great  lovers  of  truth,  of 
order,  and  of  rightful  ecclesiastical  government. 
The  difference,  however,  consisted  in  this — the  mo- 
deration and  candour  rested  in  the  Church,  the 
fanaticism  and  extravagance  were  adopted  by  the 
Puritans :  the  former  took  the  vantage-ground  of 
the  apostles,  prophets,  and  fathers ;  the  latter  had 
adopted  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  and  his  adherents. 
Now,  they  might  have  known  that  the  thirty-fourth 
Article  was  an  answer  to  all  their  scruples ;  while, 
if  they  had  been  reasonable  men,  its  judicious  and 
solemn  warnings  were  calculated  to  make  them 
ponder  at  the  threshold  of  their  schism.  "  It  is 
not  necessary,"  say  the  venerable  compilers,  "  that 
traditions  and  ceremonies  be  in  all  places  one,  or 
utterly  like ;  for  at  all  times  they  have  been  divers, 
and  may  be  changed,  according  to  the  diversities  of 


88  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604- 

countries,  times,  and  men's  manners ;  so  that  no- 
thing be  ordained  against  God's  word"  Their 
great  apostle,  Calvin  himself,  sets  forth  this  very 
proposition,  and  asserts,  that  the  order  of  ceremo- 
nies is  not  one  and  the  same  in  all  ages  and  all 
countries.  But  the  Puritan  error,  and  that  indeed 
of  all  his  Presbyterian  followers,  lay  in  wholly  re- 
jecting human  authority  and  tradition,  though 
many  of  the  forms  which  they  practise  in  their  own 
way  have  no  warranty  in  Scripture ;  whereas  the 
Church  guards  against  this  fanaticism,  by  adding 
in  this  Article,  "  But  whoever,  through  his  private 
judgment,  willingly  and  purposely  doth  openly  break 
the  traditions  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  which 
be  not  repugnant  to  the  word  of  God,  and  be  or- 
dained and  approved  by  common  authority,  ought 
to  be  rebuked  openly,  that  others  may  fear  to  do 
the  like  ;  as  he  that  offendeth  against  the  common 
order  of  the  Church,  and  hurteth  the  authority  of 
the  magistrate,  and  woundeth  the  conscience  of 
the  weak  brethren.  Every  particular  or  national 
Church  hath  authority  to  ordain,  change,  and  abo- 
lish ceremonies  or  rites  of  the  Church,  ordained 
only  by  man's  authority."  These  propositions,  in 
direct  accordance  with  Scripture,  and  in  parti- 
cular with  St.  Paul's  injunction  to  Timothy,  "  to 
hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words,  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church,"  were  trampled  under  foot  by 
the  Puritans,  who,  it  must  not  be  disguised,  started 
numerous  trifling  objections,  that  their  own  eccle- 
siastical discipline  might  be  established,  and  that 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  89 

they  might  succeed  in  causing  the  authority  of  Cal- 
vin to  supersede  that  of  the  fathers,  prophets,  and 
apostles,  nay,  (so  far  as  his  polity  and  some  of  his 
tenets  were  concerned)  even  that  of  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures. 

From  these  remarks,  an  idea  may  be  formed  of 
those  troublous  times,  and  of  the  difficulty  of  re- 
straining that  dangerous  spirit  of  enthusiasm  which 
had  already  been  too  widely  spread  throughout  the 
nation.  It  was  a  great  and  hazardous  task,  suffi- 
cient to  overwhelm  the  reflecting  mind;  but  it  was 
worthy  of  the  effort,  even  though  attended  with 
certain  failure  and  misfortune.  Unhappily,  the 
age  has  not  yet  arrived  when  men  may  be  induced 
by  any  arguments  to  think  rationally  and  philoso- 
phically on  the  actions  of  the  past.  And  what  will 
men  not  say  and  do  when  stimulated  by  enthu- 
siasm ?  They  actually  think  that  they  are  fighting 
in  the  cause  of  truth,  when  they  are  only  gratifying 
their  individual  prejudices,  and  striving  to  support 
their  cause  ;  mistaking  the  impulses  of  enthusiasm 
for  the  certain  indications  of  a  superior  judgment, 
they  spurn  the  sober  inquiry,  and  subject  themselves 
to  a  more  inglorious  slavery  of  intellect  than  that 
which  they  pretend  it  is  justifiable  to  oppose.  This 
is  not  an  age  in  which  men,  unrestrained  by  party, 
gird  up  their  loins,  and  manfully  descend  into  the 
arena  of  argument,  combating  with  the  weapons  of 
reason  and  research  :  but  when  that  age  does  arrive, 
a  much  better  feeling  will  animate  the  population 
at  large,  than  that  which  our  visionary  reformers 


90 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1604. 


of  the  present  day  augur  from  their  exertions  for 
the  dissemination  of  what  they  call  useful  know- 
ledge. It  is  by  making  men  acquainted  with  the 
blessings  of  religion,  that  they  can  be  made  happy, 
and  that  the  foundations  of  real  knowledge  can  be 
securely  laid ;  not  by  rejecting  faith,  and  making 
sense  oracular,  by  sowing  the  seeds  of  discontent- 
ment among  the  superficial,  or  by  teaching  them  to 
long  with  ardour,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  overthrow, 
of  the  bulwark  of  the  Protestant  faith,  of  the  Church 
of  our  fathers,  and  of  those  establishments  and  insti- 
tutions connected  with  it,  which  have  been  all  along 
considered  sacred,  venerable,  and  holy. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  91 


CHAPTER  III; 


1604—1606. 

Promotion  of  Laud — James1  First  Parliament — His  Speech — 
Meeting  of  the  Convocation — Death  of  Archbishop  Whitgift — 
Notices  of  his  Life — His  Character — Laud  becomes  B.D.— 
His  exercise  on  that  occasion — Dispute  with  the  Puritans — 
Cardinal  Bellarmine — Arguments  of  Laud — Remarks  on  his 
opinions — Story  of  the  Earl  of  Devonshire— Unfortunate 
conduct  of  Laud — His  repentance — 7s  traduced  as  a  Papist 
— Letter  from  Bishop  Hall — Reflections  on  Laud's  conduct. 

DURING  those  contentions  Laud  was  residing  at 
Oxford,  taking  no  public  share  in  the  transactions 
between  the  Church  and  the  Puritans,  but  a  sedu- 
lous observer  of  their  effects.  He  had  been  chosen 
Proctor  for  the  University  in  May  1603,  "  with- 
out," says  Wood,  "any  canvass,  or  seeking  for  it1/' 
and  in  September  the  same  year  he  was  appointed 
chaplain  to  Charles  Blount,  Earl  of  Devonshire 2,  a 
younger  brother  of  William  Blount,  Lord  Mountjoy, 

1  "  His  brother  proctor,"  says  Wood,  (Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  ii. 
col.  121.)  "  was  Mr.  Christopher  Dale,  of  Merton  College, 
who  being  very  rigid  and  severe  in  his  office,  and  intolerably 
choleric  towards  the  seniors,  he  was  so  much  hissed  and  hooted 
at  in  his  return  to  his  college,  after  he  had  laid  down  the 
badges  of  his  office,  that  it  was  then  usually  said,  he  was  proc- 
tor, and  bore  his  office,  cum  parva-o  LAUDE." 

Diary,  p.  2.    Heylin  says  that  he  was  appointed  in  1605. 


92  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Irish  wars  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign. 

James'  first  Parliament  met  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1604,  at  Westminster,  on  which  occasion 
the  King  made  a  long  speech  to  the  Lords  and 
Commons l.  His  remarks  on  religion  are  curious, 
and  characteristic  of  the  times.  "  On  my  first 
coming  into  England,"  he  says,  "  I  found  three 
different  ways  of  worshipping  God  professed.  The 
first  is  the  religion  established  by  law,  and  which  I 
now  profess :  the  second  is  that  of  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic, and  the  third  that  of  the  Puritans.  And 
these  novellists  I  take  rather  for  a  sect,  than  a  so- 
ciety of  Christians."  He  then  observes,  that  these 
last,  notwithstanding  their  differing  from  us  in  sub- 
stantial points  were  not  great,  yet  their  schemes  of 
polity  were  very  untoward :  they  were  so  fond  of 
party  and  levelling,  so  perpetually  remonstrating 
against  all  kind  of  superiority,  "  that  they  were  al- 
ways uneasy,  and  disaffected  to  the  public  estab- 
lishment ;  for  which  reason  they  were  scarcely  to 
be  endured*  in  a  well-regulated  commonwealth." 
He  then  remarks  on  the  Papists,  that  he  owns  the 
Romish  communion  for  his  mother  church,  though 
under  the  disadvantages  of  blemishes  and  corrup- 
tions. He  compassionates  the  young  people  amongst 
them,  "  who  have  fallen  under  unhappy  instruction, 
and  been  poisoned  with  ill  principles,"  and  sug- 
gests that  the  rest  of  the  laity,  who,  out  of  affecta- 

1  Stowe's  Annals.     Strype's  Annals,  vol.  iv. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  93 

lion,  passion,  or  perverseness,  have  altered  their 
persuasion,  and  have  revolted  from  our  communion, 
only  to  embroil  the  commonwealth,  should  be 
looked  after,  and  their  obstinacy  corrected.  The 
King  then  condemns  the  extravagant  claims  of  the 
Pope,  and  the  unsufferable  pretensions  of  his  clergy; 
and,  finally,  he  cautions  the  English  Roman  Ca- 
tholics not  to  misapprehend  him,  or  to  presume 
too  far  upon  his  lenity,  nor  ever  to  entertain  any 
visionary  hopes  of  bringing  their  persuasion  to  a 
public  establishment.  He  bids  them  assure  them- 
selves that,  though  he  is  a  friend  to  their  persons  on 
account  of  their  dutiful  behaviour,  yet  shall  he  al- 
ways continue  a  mortal  enemy  to  their  errors,  and 
make  it  his  business  to  prosecute  and  crush  their 
mistakes.  For  that  he  should  "  either  countenance 
or  connive  at  the  spreading  of  their  religion,  as  it 
now  stands,  can  never  be  expected  upon  three  ac- 
counts. First,  Such  an  indulgence  cannot  be  granted 
without  acting  against  his  conscience.  Secondly, 
The  liberties  of  the  island  must  suffer  by  relaxing 
to  such  an  excess :  and,  thirdly,  the  crown  would 
be  conveyed  to  his  posterity  in  a  worse  condition 
than  he  found  it  V 

The  Convocation  met  on  the  following  day,  but 
before  that  time  Archbishop  Whitgift  had  departed 
this  life.  This  distinguished  prelate,  whom  the 
Puritan  historian  characterizes  as  a  "  severe  gover- 

1  Rapin's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  261.  &c.  Collier's 
Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  616. 


94  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

nor  of  the  Church,  pressing  conformity  with  great 
rigour  V'  was  k°rn  at  East  Grimsby,  in  Lincoln- 
shire, about  the  year  1530 2,  and  was  descended 
from  the  ancient  family  of  the  Whitgifts,  of  Whit- 
gift  in  Yorkshire.  He  had  been  placed  in  his 
youth  under  the  care  of  his  uncle,  Robert  Whit- 
gift,  who  was  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Wellow, 
near  Grimsby3,  and  from  him  young  Whitgift  first 
imbibed  unfavourable  opinions  towards  the  Romish 
Church.  The  abbot,  observing  his  nephew's  genius, 
persuaded  his  father  to  send  him  to  St.  Anthony's 
school  in  London.  He  resided  in  St.  Paul's  Church- 
yard with  his  aunt,  who  being  a  rigid  Papist,  often 
importuned  him  to  attend  mass,  but  having  become 
already  a  convert  to  the  truths  of  the  Reformation, 
he  withstood  all  her  entreaties  ;  which  so  exaspe- 
rated her,  that,  at  length,  she  turned  him  out  of 
doors,  remarking,  "  That  at  first  she  thought  she 
had  received  a  saint  into  her  house,  but  now  she 
perceived  he  was  a  devil."  He  was  obliged  to  re- 
turn to  his  uncle  the  abbot,  in  Lincolnshire,  who 
advised  his  father  to  send  him  to  the  University. 
He  was  accordingly  sent  to  Cambridge  in  1548, 
and  entered  of  Queen's  College  there,  but,  not 
being  pleased  with  the  disposition  of  some  members 
of  that  society,  he  removed  to  Pembroke  Hall,  and 
placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of  the  famous  John 

1  Neal's  Hist,  of  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  26. 

2  Sir  George  Paul's  Life  of  Whitgift,  p.  2. 

3  Strype's  Life  of  Whitgift,  in  Appendix,  No.  I.  fol.  edit. 
1711. 


16Q4.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  95 

Bradford,  the  martyr,  who  had  been  previously  chosen 
Fellow.  He  was  soon  recommended  by  Bradford 
and  Grindall,  (afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
but  then  Fellow)  to  the  celebrated  Nicholas  Rid- 
ley, the  martyr,  through  whose  influence  he  was 
appointed  Scholar  of  Pembroke  Hall,  and  Bible 
Clerk.  In  1553-4,  he  became  Bachelor  of  Arts, 
and  on  the  31st  of  May,  1555,  he  was  admitted 
Fellow  of  Peter-house,  to  which  he  had  been  unani- 
mously elected.  He  commenced  Master  of  Arts  in 
1557,  about  which  period  he  was  overtaken  by  a 
severe  illness ;  and  on  his  recovery,  happened  the 
famous  visitation  of  the  University  under  Cardinal 
Pole,  to  extirpate  all  the  heretics  who  were  found 
there.  He  at  first  thought  of  retreating  to  the 
Continent,  to  escape  imprisonment,  but  having  se- 
cured the  friendship  of  Dr.  Perne,  the  Master  of 
his  College,  though  a  violent  papist,  that  ecclesiastic 
undertook  to  shelter  him  from  the  Commissioners, 
if  he  promised  not  to  leave  the  University.  Perne 
kept  his  promise,  and  Whitgift  escaped  without  any 
enquiry,  notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  the  com- 
missioners. In  1560  he  took  holy  orders,  and 
preached  his  first  sermon  in  St.  Mary's  Church  be- 
fore the  University,  from  the  passage,  "  I  am  not 
ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ."  In  this  year  he 
was  appointed  Chaplain  to  Dr.  Cox,  Bishop  of  Ely, 
who  gave  him  the  rectory  of  Fever  sham,  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire. In  1563,  he  commenced  Bachelor  of 
Divinity,  and  in  that  year  he  was  also  appointed 
Margaret  Professor.  He  acquired  so  great  fame  as 
a  preacher,  that  two  years  afterwards  he  was  made 


96  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

one  of  Elizabeth's  chaplains.  He  shortly  after- 
wards received  distinguished  marks  of  favour  from 
the  University,  having  a  licence  granted  him  to 
preach  throughout  the  realm  19  and  in  the  following 
year  his  salary  was  raised  from  twenty  marks  to 
twenty  pounds 2.  He  was  this  year  also  a  consi- 
derable benefactor  to  his  own  College3,  of  which,  in 
b^'::Cii;n  gr;vr  yrf  ,  I  ^uvl  ^£$S&lnfb  no  i/nat- 

1  This  licence  he  received  under  the  common  seal  of  the  Uni- 
versity.    Those  preachers  had  the  privilege  of  holding  livings 
with  their  fellowships,  which  otherwise  was  not  consistent  with 
the  statutes  of  the  University. 

2  While  Whitgift  was  Lady  Margaret  Professor,  he  lectured 
throughout  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  Apocalypse.  His 
lectures,  as  we  are  informed  by  Sir  George  Paul,  (Life,  p.  8.)  were 
prepared  for  press,  but  for  some  reason  unknown,  they  were  never 
published.     Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Whitgift,  (Appendix,  p.  8.) 
says,  that  he  saw  this  manuscript  of  Dr.  Whitgift's,  in  his  own 
hand- writing,  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  William  Payne,  minister  of 
Whitechapel,  London,  which,  after  the  death  of  that  clergyman, 
was  intended  to  be  purchased  by  Dr.  More,  Bishop  of  Ely, 
Whitgift's  thesis  for  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  also  contained  in  this 
manuscript :  the  subject  of  it  was,  Papa  est  ille  Antichrist. 

3  The  commemoration-book  of  Peter-house  contains  the  fol- 
lowing notice  :  "  Reverendus  Pater,  Dom.  Joh.  Whitgift,  Arch. 
Cant,  et  socius  hujus  collegii,  dum  adhuc  erat  Rector  de  Fever- 
sham,  infra  Cantabrigiam,  una  cum  Margaretta  relicta  Bartho- 
lomaei  Fulnethy,  de  eadem  villa,  dederunt  nobis  quatuor  mar- 
charum  pensionem  annuam,  exeuntem  de  manerio  de  Cailes  in 
Elexia,  ad  sustentationem  unius  Bibliotistae."     It  is  dated  Octo- 
ber 4,  1 565.    We  are  not  informed  as  to  this  Margaret  Fulnethy. 
Strype  (p.  3.)  says,  that  he  was  related  to  a  family  of  that  name. 
His  picture  is  in  the  parlour  at  Peter-house,  under  which  is  the 
following  distich  on  his  name  in  Latin  : 

"  Quod  pace,  Whitgifte,  faves  studiisq'ue  priorum, 
Dat  tibi  pacis  amans  Candida  dona  Deus." 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  97 

1567,  he  was  appointed  President.  His  great 
talents  now  paved  the  way  for  his  future  preferment. 
He  was  soon  called  from  being  President  of  Peter- 
house,  to  be  Master  of  Pembroke  Hall,  and  Regius 
Professor  of  Divinity :  and,  in  less  than  three 
months,  he  was  called  from  that  place  to  be  Master 
of  Trinity,  which  appointment  he  received  from  the 
Queen,  through  the  interest  of  Cecil.  This  year 
he  became  Doctor  of  Divinity.  In  December,  1568, 
Dr.  Cox,  Bishop  of  Ely,  gave  him  a  prebend's 
stall,  In  1570,  he  compiled  new  statutes  for  the 
University,  and  in  this  year  he  procured  an  order 
from  the  Vice-chancellor  and  Heads  of  Colleges, 
prohibiting  the  famous  Cartwright,  who  was  now 
Margaret  Professor,  to  read  his  lectures,  until  he 
should  give  satisfaction  as  to  his  principles.  This 
the  Puritan  refusing  to  do,  or  at  least  refusing  to 
renounce  his  tenets,  he  was  deprived  by  Whitgift 
of  the  professorship,  and  expelled  from  his  Fellow- 
ship in  1572,  for  not  entering  into  orders  at  the 
time  appointed  by  the  statute.  In  1571,  Dr.  Whit- 
gift  was  Vice-chancellor,  and  University  Preacher, 
and  in  that  year  he  was  also  appointed  Dean  of  Lin- 
coln .  He  was  now  engaged  in  the  controversies  of  the 
Puritans  fomented  by  Cartwright  and  his  associates, 
and  one  or  two  productions  of  his  appeared  in  reply 
to  lucubrations  of  the  Calvinistic  malcontents.  On 
the  24th  of  March,  1576,  he  was  nominated  Bishop 
of  Worcester,  and,  in  virtue  of  his  See,  made  Vice- 
president  of  the  Marches  of  Wales,  in  the  absence 

VOL.  I.  H 


89  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

of  Sir  Henry  Sydney,  the  President.  Whitgift 
continued  seven  years  in  this  See,,  exerting  himself 
with  the  utmost  diligence  to  promote  the  interests 
of  the  Reformation,  and  on  Archbishop  Grindal's 
death,  in  1583,  he  was  nominated  by  the  Queen  to 
the  See  of  Canterbury.  He  now,  by  the  Queen's 
express  order,  exerted  himself  to  repress  the  dis- 
orders of  the  Puritans,  who,  taking  advantage  of 
his  predecessor's  easiness  in  that  respect,  were  pos- 
sessed of  a  great  many  ecclesiastical  benefices  and 
preferments,  in  which  they  were  supported  by  some 
of  the  principal  men  at  court.  Being  high  in  favour 
with  the  Queen,  who  consulted  him  on  almost  every 
occasion,  he  had  a  share  in  many  of  the  public 
transactions  of  her  reign ;  and  his  exertions  for  the 
Church,  and  for  promoting  the  Reformation  of  re- 
ligion, in  opposition  to  the  absurdities  of  Popery, 
and  the  extravagances  of  Puritanism,  well  entitle 
him  to  be  held  in  the  utmost  reverence.  Neal  in- 
sinuates, that  he  was  afraid  of  the  first  Parliament 
of  James,  and  died  with  grief  before  it  met,  saying, 
that  he  would  rather  give  an  account  of  his  bi- 
shopric to  God  than  man1.  He  had  appointed  a 

1  This  assertion  of  Neal's  (see  vol.  ii.  p.  26,  Hist,  of  the  Puri- 
tans) is  founded  on  Camden's  testimony  (Annal.  Reg.  Jacob, 
ad  ann.  1604),  who,  though  he  ascribes  the  Archbishop's  death  to 
palsy,  expressly  declares,  that  "  he  died  with  grief,  as  he  found 
the  king  began  to  contend  about  the  Liturgy,  and  reckoned  some 
things  in  it  necessary  to  be  altered.  "  Dum  de  Liturgia,"  says 
Camden,  "  recepta  Rex  contendere  co3pit,  et  nonnulla  in  ea  mu- 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  99 

meeting  of  the  Bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics  at 
Fulham,  to  confer  about  the  affairs  of  the  Church 
before  the  Parliament  assembled,  on  which  occasion 
he  caught  cold,  as  he  proceeded  by  water  in  his 
barge.  On  the  next  Sunday,  however,  being  the 
first  in  Lent,  he  and  the  Bishop  of  London  held  a 
long  discourse  with  the  king  at  Whitehall,  but  de- 
parting from  that  place,  he  fell  into  a  fit,  which 
ended  in  paralysis,  and  almost  deprived  him  of 
speech.  The  venerable  primate  was  speedily  con- 
veyed to  Lambeth.  On  the  following  Tuesday  he 
was  visited  by  the  king,  who  said  to  him,  "  that 
he  would  pray  to  God  for  his  life,  and  that  if  he 
could  obtain  it,  he  would  think  it  one  of  the  great- 
est temporal  blessings  that  could  be  given  him  in 
this  kingdom."  The  aged  archbishop  would  have 
spoken  to  the  king,  but  his  speech  failed  him,  yet 
he  was  heard  to  repeat  distinctly  once  or  twice  with 
great  earnestness,  and  with  eyes  and  hands  lifted 
up,  Pro  Ecclesia  DeL  This  was  the  subject  which 
had  occupied  his  whole  life,  and  which  was  nearest 
his  heart.  He  died  on  the  29th  of  February,  1603-4, 
in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age,  and  was  in- 


tanda  censuit,  Johannes  Whitgiftus  Archiepiscopus  ex  moerore 
obiit."  Saunders,  moreover,  in  his  history  of  King  James, 
asserts,  that  he  used  these  words  on  his  death-bed  :  "  Et  nunc, 
Domine,  exaltata  est  mea  anima,  quod  in  eo  tempore  succubui, 
quando  mallem  episcopatus  mei  Deo  reddere  rationem,  quam 
inter  homines  exercere." — "  And  now,  O  Lord,  my  soul  rejoices 
that  I  die  in  a  time  when  I  would  rather  give  an  account  of  my 
bishopric  to  thee,  than  exercise  it  any  longer  among  men." 

H  2 


100  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1004. 

terred  on  the  27th  of  March,  in  the  Parish  Church 
of  Croydon,  where  a  monument  is  erected  to  his 
memory1. 

The  death  of  this  pious  and  venerable  prelate, 
who  throughout  a  long  life  was  active  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  the  Reformed  Church,  afforded  a 
momentary  joy  to  the  Puritan  faction.  One  of  their 
great  leaders,  the  famous  Prynne,  has  traduced  his 
memory,  and  heaped  upon  him  the  most  scurrilous 
abuse 2.  But  his  excellence  ought  not  to  be  for- 
gotten by  the  Church,  of  which  he  was  the  boast 
and  ornament  at  that  momentous  period.  He  was 
a  popular  and  diligent  preacher;  his  munificence 
was  great,  and  his  benevolence  was  unbounded, 
which  he  shewed  by  the  relief  he  afforded  to  various 
foreigners  in  distress  from  France  and  Germany, 
recommended  by  Beza,  and  also  by  the  large  sums 
which  he  remitted  to  the  latter  from  his  own  purse. 
Nor  was  his  hospitality  less  conspicuous  than  his 
generosity;  he  hoarded  not  the  revenues  of  his 
diocese,  but  liberally  distributed  them  among  his 
friends  and  the  poor.  The  judicious  Hooker  re- 
marks of  him,  that  "  he  always  governed  with  that 

1  Sir  George  Paul's  Life  of  Whitgift.     Strype's  Life  of  Whit- 
gift,  edit.  1718.     Strype's  Life  of  Archbishop  Parker,  in  same 
edition.     Regist.  Univ.  Cantab,  and  in  Strype's  Appendix,  Nos. 
I.  IV.  VI.  IX.  &c.     Regist.  Matthaei  Archiepiscopi  Cantuar. 
Bancroft's  Survey  of  Discipline.     Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  in 
edit.  1718.     Anthony  Wood's  Fasti.     Fuller's  Church  History, 
Books  ix.  and  x.  and  History  of  Cambridge.     Cotton  Library, 
Cleopatra,  F.  2.     Regist.  Whitgift.     Camden's  Annals. 

2  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  26. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  101 

moderation  which  useth  by  patience  to  suppress 
boldness,  and  to  make  them  conquer  that  suffer  :" 
and  Strype  observes,  "  that  he  lived  and  died  in 
great  reputation,,  and  was  particularly  happy  in 
being  highly  esteemed  for  his  wisdom,  learning, 
and  piety,  by  both  his  sovereigns,  Elizabeth  and 
James;  who  both  consulted  him  in  all  matters  re- 
lating to  the  Church,  and  in  all  laws  and  orders 
which  they  framed  for  the  salutary  government 
thereof;  and  likewise  took  his  advice  respecting 
proper  men  to  be  placed  in  the  chief  situations." 
This  excellent  prelate  persevered  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  in  the  face  of  much  opposition,  in  devoting  his 
pains,  his  studies,  his  learning,  and  his  interest,  to 
the  defence  of  the  Church,  against  the  efforts  by 
which  its  doctrines  were  assailed  by  the  Papists, 
and  its  discipline  and  constitution  by  the  Puritans  V 

1  One  or  two  anecdotes  are  recorded  of  this  distinguished 
prelate,  which  it  may  be  interesting  to  insert.  In  his  own  courts 
he  always  behaved  with  great  boldness  and  resolution.  On  one 
occasion,  before  he  was  a  privy-counsellor,  a  gentleman  who  was 
afraid  that  he  would  lose  a  law-suit,  which  was  before  the  court, 
told  the  Archbishop,  that  the  lords  of  the  council  seemed  to  be 
of  a  different  opinion  from  his  Grace.  "  What  tellest  thou  me," 
said  the  primate,  "  of  the  lords  of  the  council  ?  I  tell  thee  they 
are  in  these  cases  to  be  advised  by  us,  and  not  us  by  them."  On 
other  occasions,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  he  was  wont  to  ob- 
serve to  his  friends,  "  that  two  things  did  help  much  to  make  a 
man  confident  in  good  causes,  namely,  orbitas  and  senectus;  and, 
said  he,  they  speed  me  both."  When  the  French  ambassador, 
Boys  Sisi,  asked  what  books  the  Archbishop  had  published,  that 
he  might  purchase  them,  and  read  the  works  of  him  who  was 
held  to  be  "  the  peerless  prelate  for  piety  and  learning  in  our 


102  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604- 

When  the  Parliament  assembled,  and  was  pro- 
ceeding to  enact  laws  to  promote  the  interests  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  and,  with  the  Convocation, 
to  restrain  the  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans,  by  the 
establishing  of  the  Book  of  Canons,  which  were 
afterwards  ratified  by  the  King  under  the  great  seal, 
the  University  of  Oxford  was  again  in  a  state  of 
fermentation  with  religious  disputes.  In  this  year, 
(1604,)  on  the  6th  of  July,  Laud  took  his  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  and  in  the  exercise  which 
he  performed  on  the  occasion,  he  gave  great  offence 
to  the  Calvinists.  I  have  already  observed,  that  a 
dispute  was  occasioned  between  him  and  Abbot 
about  the  visibility  of  the  Church,  which  Laud  suc- 
cessfully maintained  in  opposition  to  the  fanciful 
theory  of  the  latter.  This  had  occasioned  no  little 
animosity  between  them,  and  accordingly  the  Pu^ 
ritan  party  determined  not  to  lose  this  opportu- 
nity of  renewing  the  disputation.  The  propositions 

days,"  he  was  answered,  that  he  had  only  published  one  or  two 
books  in  defence  of  the  English  ecclesiastical  constitution.  But 
when  he  was  told  that  the  Archbishop  had  founded  an  hospital 
and  a  school,  the  ambassador  immediately  exclaimed,  "  Pro- 
fecto,  hospitale  ad  sublevandam  paupertatem,  et  schola  ad  in- 
struendam  juventutem,  sunt  optimi  libri  quos  archiepiscopus 
aliquis  conscribere  potuit." — "  Truly,  an  hospital  to  shelter  the 
poor,  and  a  school  to  instruct  youth,  are  the  best  books  that  an 
archbishop  could  publish."  Sir  George  Paul's  Life  of  Whitgift, 
p.  10.  111.  The  hospital  alluded  to  is  that  at  Croydon,  which 
he  endowed  for  the  maintenance  of  twenty-eight  men  and  wo- 
men, and  near  it  is  a  free-school,  with  an  ample  salary  for  the 
master. 

r£  L-i'JJii  j  J]  *_  -'••"         -*J    *~  J    «*•»-'•* 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  103 

which  Laud  laid  down  and  defended  were  two, — the 
necessity  of  baptism,  and  that  there  could  be  no 
true  church  without  diocesan  bishops.  The  doc- 
trine contained  in  the  first  proposition  was  alleged 
against  him  on  another  occasion,  but,  in  the  mean 
time,  he  was  charged  with  having  taken  the  greater 
part  of  his  argument  from  the  works  of  the  famous 
Cardinal  Bellarmine ;  while  Dr.  Holland,  the  divi- 
nity professor,  violently  attacked  him  on  the  second, 
as  one  who  endeavoured  to  excite  discord  between 
the  English  and  the  Reformed  Churches l. 

The  first  objection,  certainly  an  instance  of 
foolish  prejudice,  which  was  fomented,  as  Dr. 
Heylin  justly  remarks,  "as  if  the  doctrine  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  or  any  necessary 
truths,  were  to  be  renounced,  because  they  are  de- 
fended by  that  learned  Cardinal,"  struck,  of  course, 
at  the  very  root  of  Puritanism  and  Nonconformity. 
The  celebrated  ecclesiastic,  whose  tenets  Laud  was 
accused  of  advocating,  had  been  well-known  to  the 
Protestant  controversialists ;  and  Bayle  informs  us, 
that  "most  of  their  learned  divines  wrote  against 
him  for  the  space  of  fifty  years ;  their  profess-ors, 
lectures,  and  theses,  made  his  name  resound  every 
where.  He  was  attacked  on  all  sides,  and  his  ad- 
versaries did  not  forget  to  examine  whether  he  had 
not  afforded  weapons  which  might  be  turned  against 

1  Heylin,  Life  of  Laud,  p.  49.  Diary,  p.  2.  Prynne's  Can- 
terbury's Doom,  p.  29.  Trial  of  Laud,  p.  380.  Wood,  Athen. 
Oxon.  vol.  ii.  col.  121 


104  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

himself1.  It  is  the  subject  of  a  book  which  must 
needs  have  perplexed  him  not  a  little 2."  Cardinal 
Robert  Bellarmine,  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  was 
the  best  controversialist  of  his  age,  and  no  Jesuit 
did  more  for  the  honour  of  his  order,  or  maintained, 
with  greater  skill,  the  cause  of  the  Romish  Church. 
He  was  born  in  1542,  and  died  in  1621.  Unques- 
tionably Laud  was  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
this  celebrated  man,  but  it  did  not  follow  that  he 
was  to  reject  any  just  reasonings  they  contained, 
because  they  were  the  productions  of  a  Romish 
ecclesiastic.  "  There  are  some  indiscreet  and  rash 
men/'  says  Bayle,  "  to  be  found  every  where,  and 
therefore  it  is  no  wonder  if  some  Protestant  writers 
have  published  falsehoods  againt  Bellarmine,  of 
which  his  party  took  advantage."  He  was  much 
reviled  by  the  Calvinists  in  particular,  because  he 
wrote  against  their  dogma  of  predestination,  (which, 
by  the  way,  is  a  dogma  also  of  the  Jansenists,)  and 
because  he  ventured  to  call  in  question  some  of  the 
assumptions  of  St.  Augustine.  He  was,  indeed,  a 
man  admirably  adapted  for  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  and  the  Calvinists  and  other  sectaries  had 
frequently  experienced  the  severity  of  his  pen.  So 
famous,  indeed,  was  Bellarmine,  that  whenever  the 
Calvinists  or  the  Lutherans  wrote  against  the 
Romish  Church,  they  invariably  attacked  his  writings. 

1  Bayle's  Dictionary,  vol.  i.  p.  726. 

2  Bellum  Jesuiticum,  written  by  Andrew  Castorius,  and  pub- 
lished in  4to.  at  Basle,  in  1594. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  105 

"If,"  says  Ancillon1,  "he  undertakes  to  confute 
the  Pelagians,  he  makes  use  of  all  the  arguments 
of  those  whom  he  calls  Calvinists ;  if  he  has  to  do 
with  the  Calvinists,  he  makes  use  of  the  reasons 
and  distinctions  of  the  Pelagians.  If  he  writes 
against  the  Anabaptists,  concerning  the  baptism  of 
children,  he  proves  it  by  Scripture  ;  if  he  disputes 
with  us  about  tradition,  the  baptism  of  children  is 
one  of  the  points  which,  he  says,  seems  to  prove 
the  necessity  of  it,  and  of  which  the  Scriptures  do 
not  speak  in  a  convincing  manner." 

The  opinions  which  Laud  advanced  in  his  exer- 
cise involved  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration, 
— a  doctrine  which  is  taught  in  Scripture,  and 
which  has  been  held  by  the  Church  in  every  age. 
It  is  maintained  in  all  the  Confessions  of  the 
Reformed  Churches,  of  every  description :  that  it  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  is  unde- 
niable; it  was  that  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
both  when  that  Church  was  alternately  Episco- 
palian and  Presbyterian,  so  far  as  the  original  Con- 
fession is  conceived,  and  perhaps  the  Confession 
of  the  present  legal  Establishment  of  that  country 
may  be  included,  although  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly of  Divines,  whose  tenets  it  has  adopted,  were 
the  first  who 'ventured  to  call  it  in  question.  And 
the  opposition  which  Laud  encountered  was  a  com- 

1  Critical  Miscellanies,  torn.  i.  p.  352,  quoted  by  Bayle,  vol.  i. 
p.  726. 


106  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

plete  specimen  of  that  diffuse  and  irreverent  feeling 
which,  it  must  be  said,  prevails  among  the  Calvinists 
and  other  dissenters  of  the  present  day,  by  which 
they  degrade  the  holy  sacraments  of  the  Church  into 
mere  signs  or  commemorative  rites,  not  at  all  con- 
nected with  salvation.  But  it  is  evident,  that  if 
there  be  no  necessity  for  infant  baptism,  there  is  no 
conformity  to  the  practice  of  the  apostles,  and  of 
the  Church  in  all  ages  :  and  if  that  holy  sacra^ 
ment,  simple  as  it  is,  (and,  in  our  opinion,  its  sim- 
plicity farther  proves  its  efficacy)  does  not  confer 
regeneration  upon  the  infant,  who  has  committed 
no  actual  sin,  and  the  same  to  the  adult  who 
worthily  receives  it,  that  is,  if  it  is  not  only  "  a 
sign  of  profession,  and  mark  of  difference,  whereby 
Christian  men  are  discerned  from  others  that  be 
not  christened,  but  is  also  a  sign  of  regeneration, 
or  new  v  birth,  whereby,  as  by  an  instrument,  they 
that  receive  baptism  rightly  are  grafted  into  the 
Church,  the  promises  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and 
of  our  adoption  to  be  the  sons  of  God  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  are  visibly  signed  and  sealed ;  faith  is  con- 
firmed, and  grace  increased,  by  virtue  of  prayer 
unto  God1/' — then  is  it  nothing  at  all,  and  there  is 
a  levelling  or  degrading  of  that  sacrament  which 
was  ordained  by  our  divine  Saviour  himself,  as  in- 

1  Article  XXVII.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, when  speaking  of  Baptism,  always  employs  the  words 
renatusy  renati.  The  Church  may  be  wrong,  but  such  is  the 
fact. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  107 

dispensably  necessary  to  be  observed  in  the  Church. 
Thus  much  is  certain,  that  our  Saviour  taught  a 
different  doctrine  to  Nicodemus  in  his  admirable 
discourse,  from  that  which  has  unfortunately  ob- 
tained at  the  present  day  :  and  I  hesitate  not  to 
say,  that  no  opinion  can  be  conceived  more  un- 
worthy of  the  holy  sacraments,  than  that  they  are 
mere  rites  or  commemorations,  and  not,  as  they 
are  indeed,  the  ordinary  means  whereby  men  ob- 
tain salvation. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  Calvin  himself,  in 
his  Institutes,  bears  his  testimony  to  the  truth  of 
these  remarks,  it  is  astonishing  that  those  who 
profess  to  adopt  his  opinions  should  have  exhibited 
such  a  lamentable  disregard  of  primitive  and  scrip- 
tural truth.  At  the  same  time,  however,  it  must 
be  remarked,  that  opinions  such  as  those  which  the 
Puritans  held,  are  the  natural  results  of  the  pre- 
destinarian  tenets.  Considering  the  times,  it  was 
not  probable  that  Laud  would  escape  censure  for 
enforcing  the  Articles  of  the  Church,  and  it  marked 
the  pusillanimity  of  the  Puritan  faction,  to  charge 
him  with  adopting  Bellarmine's  sentiments,  as  if  it 
were  utterly  impossible  for  a  Roman  Catholic  to 
maintain  any  scriptural  truth.  But  it  is  useless 
to  reason  with  men  who  are  resolved  upon  opposi- 
tion, and  who  eagerly  seek  after  novelties,  rejecting 
the  salutary  and  sober  standard  of  scriptural  and 
rational  enquiry. 

On  his  second  proposition,  that  there  can  be  no 
true  church  without  diocesan  bishops,  Laud  was 


108  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604. 

virulently  attacked  by  Dr.  Holland  l.  This  was  a 
startling  proposition  'to  the  Puritans.  As  to  his 
arguments  for  the  necessity  of  infant  baptism,  he 
was  merely  charged,  though  most  unjustly,  with 
adopting  Bellarmine's  sentiments  ;  but  on  this  point 
they  condescended  to  enter  into  debate.  It  gave 
great  offence  to  the  Calvinists,  and  it  is  denounced 
in  no  very  measured  language  by  his  adversary 
Prynne,  in  that  production  of  his  entitled  "  Can- 
terburie's  Doome."  Of  course,  it  struck  at  the  very 
root  of  that  polity  of  which  the  Puritans  were  so 
warm  admirers,  and  overturned  their  famous  doc- 
trine of  expediency.  But  it  was  not  the  less  sur- 
prising, that  he  should  have  been  opposed  on  this 
subject  by  men  who  professed  to  be  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  even  though  influenced  by  the 
doctrines  of  Calvin,  and  violent  sticklers  for  a  new 
reformation.  They  had  all  received  its  ordination, 
and  professed  to  remain  within  its  pale ;  and  their 
learning  was  neither  circumscribed  nor  superficial. 
For  what  is  it  which  gives  to  the  Episcopacy  of  the 

1  Dr.  Holland,  however,  was  a  very  learned  man.  We  are 
told  by  Wood,  (Atlien.  Oxon.  vol.  ii.  col.  111.)  that  "  he  did  not, 
as  some,  only  sip  of  learning,  or  at  the  best  only  drink  thereof, 
but  was  mersus  in  libris ;  so  that  the  scholar  in  him  drowned 
almost  all  other  relations.  He  was  esteemed  by  the  precise  men 
of  his  time,  and  after,  '  another  Apollos,  mighty  in  the  Scrip- 
tures/ and  so  familiar  with  the  fathers,  as  if  he  himself  was  a 
father  ;  and  in  the  schoolmen,  as  if  he  had  been  a  seraphical 
doctor."  He  was  born  at  Ludfcw,  in  Shropshire,  and  (lied  in 
1612.  He  was  one  of  the  translators  of  King  James'  Bible. 


1604.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  109 

English  Church  its  high  character  and  authority  in 
the  eyes  of  Protestant  Europe,  and  of  the  world  at 
large  ?  or,  were  it  to  fall,  could  an  establishment  so 
meagre  and  limited  as  that  of  Scotland,  or  could 
exertions  so  diffuse,  and  opinions  so  jarring  and  dis- 
cordant, as  those  of  the  English  dissenters,  prove 
bulwarks  and  defences  to  maintain  and  protect  the 
reformed  religion  ?  It  is  not  because  the  Church 
of  England  is  established  by  law ;  it  is  not  because 
that  church  reckons  the  princes  and  nobles  of  these 
kingdoms  among  its  sons ;  it  is  not  because  it  is 
vested  with  a  splendor  and  political  importance 
which  ensure  for  it  homage  and  respect ;  it  is  not 
because  among  its  prelates  and  clergy  there  have 
been,  and  still  are,  those  whose  names  will  be  re- 
membered by  latest  posterity  with  veneration  and 
gratitude  ;  but  it  is  because  that  Church  is  a  portion 
of  that  Catholic  Church,  which  retains  the  discipline 
and  polity  of  apostolical  truth  and  order  ;  it  is  be- 
cause in  its  ordination  it  follows  the  dictates  of  holy 
Scripture  and  the  practice  of  the  apostles  and  the 
primitive  church,  in  the  distinct  order  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons,  as  our  Saviour  himself  set 
forth  in  his  calling  first  his  twelve  disciples,  and  then 
in  his  ordination  of  the  seventy ;  and  as  the  apostles 
set  forth  in  their  election  of  another  by  lot  in  the 
room  of  Judas,  who  "  by  transgression  fell  from  his 
bishopric ;"  it  is  because  it  enforces  rigidly  that 
canonical  discipline  set  forth  in  the  General  Coun- 
cils of  the  Church  in  the  earliest  ages.  For  as  the 
church  of  the  Jews  was  an  hierarchy,  so  must  the 


110  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1604: 

Christian  Church  be  also :  the  former  being  the  type, 
the  other  the  substance  ;  the  former  being  the  old 
dispensation,  the  latter  the  new,  which  our  Saviour 
came  "  to  fulfil ;"  and  which  hierarchy  it  can  be, 
and  yet,  unlike  that  of  the  Jews,  be  "a  spiritual 
kingdom."  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  a 
train  of  reasoning  to  shew  the  truth  of  Laud's  pro- 
position. The  question  is,  what  is  the  true  church  ? 
and  the  answer  to  this  question  must  not  be  dictated 
by  enthusiasm,  or  affected  and  alleged  spirituality. 
It  was  not,  therefore,  to  be  expected,  that  Laud's 
opinions  would  pass  uncensured  by  his  opponents. 
The  allegations  of  the  Puritans  failed  to  convict 
him  of  having  employed  the  arguments  of  Bellar- 
mine ;  nevertheless,  they  were  determined  not  to  lose 
this  opportunity  of  displaying  their  hostility.  A 
report  had  already  been  industriously  circulated  in 
the  University  that  he  was  secretly  inclined  to  Po- 
pery, and  this  insinuation  was  farther  strengthened 
in  the  minds  of  the  Puritans  by  the  theme  for  his 
Bachelor's  degree.  The  scandal  was  turned  to  ac- 
count by  his  enemies,  who  now  invariably  connected 
his  name  with  Popery,  as  if  glad  of  this  plausible 
pretext  to  declare  their  hostility.  But,  in  truth,  it 
was  the  fashion  of  the  Puritans  of  that  age  to  tra- 
duce all  those  as  popishly  affected,  who  did  not 
coincide  with  their  Calvinistic  ideas ;  and  Laud 
received  part  of  that  obloquy  which  was  cast  on  all 
conscientious  defenders  of  the  Church  of  England, 
from  the  sovereign,  who  was  called  "  a  doctrinal 
Papist,"  to  the  humblest  member  of  the  Church. 


1605.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  Ill 

But  in  the  following  year,  1605,  an  affair  hap- 
pened, which  made  as  much  noise  as  the  scandal 
about  his  being  a  Papist.  It  has  been  already  ob- 
served, that  on  the  3d  of  December,  1603,  Laud 
had  been  appointed  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Devon- 
shire ;  I  now  proceed  to  relate  the  particulars  of  an 
unfortunate  transaction,  which  he  remembered  with 
penitence  and  humiliation  in  after  life.  Charles 
Lord  Mountjoy,  for  his  conduct  in  the  Irish  wars, 
had  been  created  Earl  of  Devonshire  by  James,  a 
Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  Lord  Deputy  of  Ire- 
land. This  nobleman,  before  his  preferment,  when 
only  Sir  Charles  Blount,  had  conceived  a  violent 
attachment  for  Lady  Penelope  Devereux,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  her  beauty  and  accom- 
plishments had  long  excited  his  fondest  admiration. 
This  affection  was  returned  by  the  lady  with  equal 
ardour,  and  promises  of  marriage  at  a  future  period 
passed  between  them.  Her  friends,  however,  were 
averse  to  the  alliance,  as  he  was  only  a  younger  bro- 
ther to  Lord  Mountjoy,  having  no  estate  or  private 
fortune,  and  depending  solely  on  court  patronage : 
they,  therefore,  absolutely  prohibited  the  intended 
union  of  the  parties,  and  compelled  her  to  marry 
Lord  Rich,  a  nobleman  of  great  fortune  and  estate, 
but  of  disagreeable  manners,  and  no  very  engaging 
person.  The  lady  being  under  the  control  of  her 
friends,  was  compelled  to  this  connexion,  and  Blount, 
conscious  of  his  want  of  fortune,  was  necessarily 
obliged  to  submit  calmly  to  the  disappointment  of 
his  hopes.  Had  there  been  any  written  documents 
7 


112  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1605. 

connected  with  their  mutual  engagement,  he  might 
have  opposed  the  marriage  at  law ;  but,  unfortu- 
nately for  him,  all  their  assurances  had  been  verbal, 
and  there  were  no  witnesses  to  support  his  attes- 
tations. 

It  happened,  however,  as  is  frequently  the  case 
in  constrained  marriages,  that  Lady  Rich  still  re~ 
collected  her  affection  for  her  former  lover,  and  the 
rude  behaviour  of  her  husband  contributed  not  a 
little  to  preserve  this  feeling.  It  is  even  recorded, 
that  in  her  endeavours  to  make  Blount  acquainted 
with  her  disposition  towards  him,  she  made  her 
husband  the  unconscious  agent  in  her  guilty  com- 
munication. The  consequence  was,  that  a  criminal 
connexion  ensued  between  Lady  Rich  and  Blount, 
at  first  indulged  in  private  meetings,  but  afterwards 
publicly,  without  any  disguise :  and  Blount  began 
to  act  with  more  confidence  on  account  of  succeed- 
ing to  his  brother's  estate,  who  died  about  this 
period.  This  guilty  intercourse  had  been  perse- 
vered in  for  some  time,  till  at  length  Blount,  now 
Lord  Mountjoy,  was  ordered  to  Ireland,  to  assist 
in  repressing  the  rebellion  raised  by  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone :  but,  during  his  absence,  Lord  Rich  had 
discovered  the  infamy  of  his  lady,  and  procured  a 
divorce.  Mountjoy  on  his  return,  crowned  with 
victory,  and  high  in  favour  with  the  king,  who 
created  him  Earl  of  Devonshire,  finding  Lady  Rich 
separated  from  her  husband,  and  having  had  chil- 
dren by  her  during  their  former  guilty  connexion, 
thought  that  in  point  of  honour  he  could  do  no  less 


1605.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  113 

than  marry  her,  as  it  had  beer;  on  his  account  that 
she  had  brought  herself  into  disgrace.  He,  more- 
over, imagined,  that  by  this  act  he  would  legitimatize 
his  children,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  civil 
law ].  For  this  purpose  he  prevailed  with  Laud, 
his  chaplain,  not  without  many  importunate  en- 
treaties, to  solemnize  the  marriage,  which  was  ac- 
cordingly done  at  Wanstead,  in  Essex,  December 
26,  1605,  being  St.  Stephen's  day2. 

In  this  unfortunate  affair,  it  must  be  remarked, 
that  Laud  was  solely  overcome  by  the  persuasions 
of  his  friends,  from  the  dangerous  opinion,  that, 
when  a  divorce  ensues,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty 
might  lawfully  remarry,  and  that  the  individual  who 
has  caused  the  divorce,  might  marry  the  individual 
divorced.  The  latter  opinion,  unquestionably  to 
be  condemned,  as  productive  of  the  most  dangerous 
consequences,  and  destructive  of  domestic  peace, 
was,  much  more  than  the  former,  liable  to  the  most 
serious  objections.  But  Laud,  as  Dr.  Heylin  re- 
marks, though  that  writer  does  not  profess  to  vin- 
dicate him,  was  not  without  reasons,  and  even 
precedents,  to  induce  him  to  this  affair :  though 
these,  it  is  not  denied,  were  grounded  on  fallacious 
principles.  He  found  that  assurances  of  marriage 
had  actually  passed  between  the  parties,  before  the 

Some  of  those  children  afterwards  distinguished  themselves. 
One  of  them,  Mountjoy  Blount,  became  Earl  of  Newport. 

2  Diary,  p.  2.  Heylin,  p.  52,  53.  Prynne's  Beviat,  p.  2  ; 
and  Canterbury's  Doome,  p.  29.  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i. 
p.  440. 

VOL.  I.  I 


1U  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G05. 

lady  was  married  to  Lord  Rich,  which,  though  null 
in  law,  as  being  merely  verbal,  might,  mforo  con- 
scientice,  have  some  -weight  in  procuring  his  com- 
pliance, and  he  might  pity  the  situation  of  the 
parties,  who  had  thus  endured  the  disappointment 
of  their  fondest  affections,  although  they  took  the 
most  guilty  means  to  establish  an  intercourse. 
Allowing  his  sympathy  more  than  his  reason  to  be 
influenced  by  the  persuasions  of  his  patron,  and 
finding  that  Lord  Rich  had  procured  a  final  sen- 
tence of  divorce,  for  the  sake  of  the  children  born 
in  this  adulterous  intercourse,  he  complied  with 
the  request  made  under  such  circumstances.  There 
were  also  three  opinions  concerning  marriages  after 
divorce,  maintained  by  different  parties.  1.  That 
such  marriages  are  lawful  unto  neither  party 
during  the  life-time  of  either,  which  is  most  posi- 
tively declared  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  is 
therefore  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  2.  That  such  marriages  are  lawful  to 
the  party  wronged,  but  not  to  the  guilty, — a  doc- 
trine which  is  practised  in  the  present  day,  and 
which  was  maintained  by  some  ancient  writers,  and 
some  of  the  Calvinists  :  and  3.  That  both  the  inno- 
cent and  the  guilty  party  might  lawfully  marry  if 
they  pleased,  which  was  maintained  generally  by 
Lutherans,  Calvinists,  and  Roman  Catholics.  If  he 
suffered  himself  to  be  misled,  then,  by  authorities, 
Laud  was  not  unfurnished  with  them,  as  there  were 
three  distinct  doctrines  laid  down  on  the  subject : 
"  and  though,"  to  adopt  the  language  of  Heylin, 


I 


1605.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  115 

"  in  this  case  he  followed  the  very  worst  of  the  three, 
yet  it  may  serve  for  a  sufficient  argument  that  he 
was  no  Papist,  nor  cordially  inclined  to  that  reli- 
gion, because  he  acted  so  directly  against  the  doc- 
trines and  determinations  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
If  any  other  considerations  of  profit,  preferment, 
or  compliance,  did  prevail  upon  him,  (as  perhaps 
they  might)  they  may  with  charity  be  viewed  as 
the  common  incidences  of  human  frailty,  from 
which  the  holiest  and  most  learned  men  cannot 
plead  exemption." 

The  result  of  this  unfortunate  affair  was,  that 
the  Earl  of  Devonshire  was  disgraced  at  Court, 
and  though  he  wrote  an  apology  to  the  king,  yet 
he  was  never  restored  to  the  royal  favour.  It 
seems  to  have  made  a  considerable  impression  on 
his  mind,  and  he  died  the  following  year.  Con- 
cerning Laud's  conduct  in  the  affair,  it  is  unques- 
tionably true,  that  no  apology  can  be  offered  on 
religious  or  moral  grounds,  and  it  is  evident  that 
he  acted  on  an  erroneous  and  unjustifiable  prin- 
ciple. Of  this,  indeed,  he  was  himself  sensible1, 
and  so  humbled  did  he  afterwards  feel,  that,  in- 
stead of  attempting  to  justify  himself,  he  always 
observed  St.  Stephen's  day  as  an  annual  fast,  hum- 
bling himself  before  God,  and  imploring  forgive- 
ness for  that  great  error  of  his  life 2.  It  operated 

1  Diary,  p.  2.  "  My  cross  about  the  Earl  of  Devon's  mar- 
riage, Dec.  26,  1605." 

He  composed  the  following  prayer  on  this  occasion,  as  proof 
of  his  contrition  and  piety.     (Canterburie's  Doome,  by  Prynne, 

i  2 


116  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1605. 

also  most  powerfully  against  his  preferment;  for 
James  was  so  prejudiced  against  him,  that,  not- 
withstanding his  contrition,  he  would  not  for  a 
long  time,  listen  to  any  recommendation  in  his 
favour.  And  so  long  was  he  upbraided  with  it  by 
his  enemies,  that  in  an  after  period  of  his  life,  in 
order  to  counteract  their  false  representations,  he 
was  compelled  to  make  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
acquainted  with  the  whole  affair,  in  order  that 

p.  29.)  "  Behold  thy  servant,  O  my  God,  and  in  the  bowels  of 
thy  mercy  have  compassion  upon  me.  Behold,  I  am  become  a 
reproach  to  thy  holy  name,  by  serving  my  ambition  and  the  sins 
of  others,  which,  though  I  did  by  the  persuasion  of  other  men, 
yet  my  own  conscience  did  check  and  upbraid  me  in  it.  Lord, 
I  beseech  thee,  for  the  mercies  of  Jesus  Christ,  enter  not  into 
judgment  with  me  thy  servant,  but  hear  his  blood  imploring 
mercies  for  me.  Neither  let  this  marriage  prove  a  divorcing  of 
my  soul  from  thy  grace  and  favour  ;  for  much  more  happy  had 
I  been,  if  being  mindful  this  day,  I  had  suffered  martyrdom,  as 
did  St.  Stephen,  the  first  of  martyrs,  denying  that  whether  either 
my  less  faithful  friends,  or  less  godly  friends,  had  pressed  upon 
me.  I  promised  to  myself  that  the  darkness  would  hide  me ; 
but  that  hope  soon  vanished  away :  nor  doth  the  light  appear 
more  plainly,  than  that  I  have  committed  that  foul  offence. 
Even  so,  O  Lord,  it  pleased  thee,  of  thy  infinite  mercy,  to  de- 
ject me  with  this  heavy  ignominy,  that  I  might  learn  to  seek  thy 
name.  O  Lord,  how  grievous  is  the  remembrance  of  my  sin  to 
this  very  day,  after  so  many  and  such  reiterated  prayers  poured 
out  unto  thee  from  a  sorrowful  and  afflicted  spirit.  Be  merci- 
ful unto  me  ;  hearken  to  the  prayers  of  thy  humble  and  dejected 
servant,  and  raise  me  up  again,  O  Lord,  that  I  may  not  die  in 
this  my  sin,  but  that  I  may  live  in  thee  hereafter  ;  and  living, 
evermore  rejoice  in  thee,  through  the  merits  and  the  mercies  of 
Jesus  Christ  my  Lord  and  Saviour.  Amen," 


1605.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  117 

Charles  I.  might  impartially  judge  of  his  conduct1. 
The  man  who  could  record  in  his  private  papers 
those  failings  for  which  he  expressed  repentance, 
who  in  moments  of  retirement  approached  the 
throne  of  grace  and  offered  his  ardent  supplica- 
tions, and  who  yearly  commemorated  his  impru- 
dence by  solemn  fasting  and  humiliation, — such 
man  displayed  a  truly  Christian  spirit,  which 
brooded  over  its  own  sorrows,  while  it  soared 
superior  to  the  injurious  attacks  of  those  who  de- 
lighted to  remind  him  of  those  "  thorns  in  the 
flesh."  Had  his  enemies  told  the  truth,  and  pro- 
perly represented  the  whole  affair,  there  would 
have  been  perhaps  some  excuse,  but  they  studiously 
reminded  him  of  the  fact,  while  they  concealed 
what  was  most  important  in  extenuation — namely, 
the  •  previous  divorce.  Accordingly,  Archbishop 
Abbot,  in  his  Narrative,  represents  it  as  if  there 
had  been  no  divorce  at  all,  thereby  indulging  his 
prejudices,  and  exhibiting  Laud  in  the  worst  pos- 
sible aspect 2 ;  and  Prynne,  that  violent  enthusiast, 
of  course  follows  in  the  same  track,  as  if  Laud  had 
solemnized  this  marriage  without  the  slightest  ex- 
cuse, and  in  open  defiance  of  the  laws  of  God  and 


man3. 


1  Heylin,  p.  54.     Lansdowne  MSS.  ut  sup. 

2  "  The  first  observable  act,"  says  Abbot,  "  which  he  (Laud) 
did,  was  the  marrying  of  the  Earl  of  Devonshire  to  the  lady  R'  ;h, 
when  it  was  notorious  to  the  world,  that  she  had  another  hus- 
band, and  the  same  a  nobleman,  who  had  divers  children  then 
living  by  her."     Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  440. 

a  Prynne's  Breviat,  p.  2 ;  and  Canterbury's  Doom,  p.  29. 


118  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1606. 

The  next  year,  1606,  the  former  scandal,  that 
Laud  was  inclined  to  Popery,  was  renewed  with 
additional  acrimony.  On  the  26th  of  October  he 
preached  a  sermon  before  the  University,  in  St. 
Mary's  Church,  Oxford,  for  which  he  was  vehe- 
mently attacked  by  Dr.  Henry  Array,  the  Vice- 
chancellor  for  that  year,  who  was  a  violent  Calvinist. 
What  the  subject  of  this  sermon  was,  or  on  what 
occasion  it  was  preached,  is  no  where  positively  re- 
corded ;  however,  it  was  conceived  by  Dr.  Array  to 
be  Popish  in  its  tendency ;  "  the  good  man,"  says 
Heylin,  "  taking  all  things  to  be  matter  of  Popery, 
which  were  not  held  forth  unto  him  in  Calvin's  In- 
stitutes, conceiving  that  there  was  as  much  idolatry 
in  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  in  worshipping 
the  brazen  serpent ;  and  as  undoubtedly  believing, 
that  Antichrist  was  begotten  on  tfee  whore  of  Baby- 
lon, as  that  Pharez  and  Zara  were  begotten  on  the 
body  of  Tamar."  During  the  time  that  Dr.  Array 
served  the  office  of  Vice-chancellor,  he  shewed  him- 
self a  zealous  Calvinist,  and  a  great  defender  of  the 
Puritans,  in  opposition  to  the  members  of  the  Church 
of  England l .  He  wrote  a  book,  entitled,  "  A  Trea- 
(  tise  against  bowing  at  the  Name  of  Jesus  :"  and  he 
was  held  in  great  veneration  among  the  Puritan 
faction  for  his  reputed  sanctity  and  holiness  of  life, 
for  his  learning  and  gravity,  and  for  the  interest  he 
took  in  the  welfare  of  his  College  2.  But  Laud,  it 

1  Hist,  and  Antiq.  Oxon.  lib.  i.  p.  300.  309.  312.     Athen. 
Oxon.  vol.  iii.  col.  176. 

2  Dr.  Henry  Array  was  born  in  Westmoreland  in  1560,  edu- 


1606.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  119 

appears,  vindicated  himself  with  such  ability,  that 
he  was  not  compelled  to  make  a  formal  retractation 
of  any  of  his  positions,  which  otherwise,  being  a 
subordinate  member  of  the  University,  he  would 
have  been  obliged  to  do l .  Yet  his  old  adversary, 
Abbot,  took  advantage  of  this  commotion,  and  so 
openly  traduced  him  as  a  Papist,  that,  as  Heylin  de- 
clares he  was  told  by  Laud  himself,  it  was  reckoned 
a  heresy  to  speak  to  him,  and  a  suspicion  of  heresy 
to  salute  him  as  he  walked  in  the  street 2.  This  is 


cated  by  the  famous  Bernard  Gilpin,  and  by  him  sent  to  St.  Ed- 
mund's Hall  in  1579,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He  was  afterwards 
removed  to  Queen's  College,  "  where,"  says  Wood,  "  he  became 
*  pauper  puer  serviens,'  that  is,  a  poor  serving  boy,  that  waits  on 
the  Fellows  in  the  common  hall  at  meals,  and  in  their  chambers, 
and  does  other  servile  work  about  the  college."  After  he  be- 
came Bachelor,  he  was  made  pauper  puer  or  tabardius  and  ta- 
bardarius ;  and  in  1586,  Master  of  Arts  and  Fellow.  About  this 
time  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  became  a  popular  preacher 
in  the  University.  In  1594  he  was  B.D.  and  four  years  after  he 
was  elected  Provost  of  the  College.  He  died  in  1616. 

1  Wood,  Hist,  and  Antiq.  ut  sup.  p.  312.     "  Nonnulla  pro- 
tulit  quse  academicis  plerisque,  Calvinismo  nimirum  jam  peni- 
tus  imbutis,  superstitionem  pontificiam  sapere  viderentur  ;  qua- 
propter  virum  ad  se  accersivit  Doctor  Array,  Vicecancellarius, 
superque  tradita  pro  suggesto  doctrina  quaestionem  habuit.     At 
vero  durante  in  hebdomadas  nonnullas  ejusdem  eventilatione, 
ita  se  demum  purgavit  Laudus,  ut  publicam  dogmatum  suorum 
retractionem  evaserit." 

2  The  Puritan  historian  here  writes  according  to  his  usual  cus- 
tom.    After  quoting  a  passage  from  Bishop  Hall,  and  Abbot's 
Narrative,  (Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  440.)  he  says,  "  Heylin  con- 
fesses, it  was  thought  dangerous  to  keep  him  company."     (Hist. 


120  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1606, 

an  instance  of  the  moderation  and  charity  of  the 
Puritans.  The  report  thus  circulated  at  Oxford, 
soon  reached  Cambridge ;  and  one  or  two  members 
of  that  University,  inclined  to  Puritanism,  "  exer- 
cised their  pens  in  the  way  of  epistles."  Among 
these,  Dr.  Hall,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
wrote  him  a  letter,  in  which  he  expressed  great  con- 
cern for  his  inclination  to  Popery  on  this  occasion. 
"  I  would  I  knew  where  to  find  you,"  said  he, 
"  then  I  could  tell  how  to  take  direct  arms,  whereas 
now  I  must  pore  and  conjecture.  To-day  you  are 
in  the  tents  of  the  Romanists,  to-morrow  in  ours ; 
the  next  day  between  both  ;  against  both.  Our  ad- 
versaries think  you  ours,  we  theirs,  your  conscience 
finds  you  with  both,  and  neither  :  I  flatter  you 
not.  This  of  yours  is  the  worst  of  all  tempers. 
How  long  will  you  halt  in  this  indifferency  ?  Re- 
solve one  way,  and  know  at  last  what  you  do  hold, 
and  what  you  should.  Cast  off  either  your  wings 
or  your  teeth,  and,  loathing  this  bat-like  nature,  be 

of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  155.)  Now,  in  giving  this  version  of 
the  affair,  Neal  ought  not  to  have  written  it,  as  he  has  done,  with 
the  intention  to  mislead  his  readers,  as  if  Dr.  Heylin  coincided 
with  the  testimonies  of  Bishop  Hall  and  Dr.  Abbot.  He  does 
indeed  confess,  that  it  was  thought  dangerous  to  keep  his  com- 
pany ;  but  by  whom  ?  not  certainly  by  the  whole  University,  but 
by  Abbot's  satellites,  and  by  the  enthusiasts  of  Nonconformity. 
On  reading  Neal's  observation,  it  would  be  natural  to  conclude, 
that  Laud  stood  solitary  in  his  opinions.  With  what  pity  must 
Laud  have  beheld  the  men,  whose  minds  were  so  wofully 
perverted  by  prejudice  !  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  recollection 
of  this  academical  fanaticism  operated  powerfully  in  after  life. 


1606.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  121 

either  a  bird  or  a  beast.  To  die  wavering  and  un- 
certain, yourself  will  grant  fearful.  If  you  must 
settle,  when  begin  you  ?  If  you  must  begin,  why 
not  now  ?  God  crieth  with  Jehu,  Who  is  on  my 
side,  who  ?  Look  out  at  your  window  to  him,  and 
in  a  resolute  courage  cast  down  the  Jezebel  that 
hath  bewitched  you  V 

An  excellent  comment  might  be  made  on  this 
extract  from  Dr.  Hall's  letter,  more  especially  as  it 
has  been  often  retailed  by  Nonconformist  writers ; 
but  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  offer  any  remarks. 
The  pious  correspondent  evidently  laboured  under 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  times,  and  one  sentence  of  his 
epistle  generally  contradicts  another.  Nothing 

1  One  would  imagine  that  the  author  of  this  epistle  had  Car- 
dinal Bellarmine  in  his  view,  and  what  is  said  of  him  by  a  certain 
writer.  Ancillon's  Critical  Miscel.  of  Lit.  torn.  i.  p.  352.  apud 
Bayle,  vol.  i.  p.  726,  note.  "  This  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  com- 
parison which  I  have  seen  somewhere  of  Bellarmine  with  a  cer- 
tain African  whose  name  was  Leo,  whom  he  himself  compares  to 
that  amphibious  bird  of  ^Esop,  which  was  sometimes  a  bird  and 
sometimes  a  fish  :  a  bird,  when  the  king  of  fishes  exacted  a  tri- 
bute ;  and  a  fish,  when  the  king  of  birds  exacted  it." — "  Ut  Leo- 
quidam  Africanus  in  Granatensi  regno  natus,  et,  postquam  sub- 
jugatum  est  illud  regnum,  in  Africam  profugus,  de  se  fatetur, 
Si  Afros  vitio  aliquo  notari  sentio,  me  Granatae  natum  profiteer ; 
si  Granatensis  male  audiant,  mox  Afer  sum  :  Bellarminus  certe 
multo  quam  ille  elegantius  aviculam  illam  imitatur,  qui  nimi- 
rum  respondet.  (Tom.  i.  Controv.  1.  i.  7.)  Patres,  secutos  esse 
septuaginta  interpretum  editionem,  (ut  sup.  20.  3.)  Esdrae 
agens,  ait  Patres  secutos  esse  Hebrseos,  et  tamen  illud  alterum, 
notate,  quanta  vi  verborum  efferat.  Negari  (inquit)  non  potest. 
Ipse  tamen  id  ipsum  loco  posteriori  negat :" — p.  354. 


122  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1606. 

could  be  more  absurd  than  this  clamour  that  Laud 
was  popishly  inclined.  He  may  be  termed  any 
thing  in  the  present  day  by  his  modern  enemies — 
high  churchman  or  semi-papist ;  but  the  Puritans, 
every  one  of  whom  was  a  papisto-mastix,  unfortu- 
nately neglected  to  exercise  their  reasoning  powers. 
And  why  was  Laud  so  reproached  ?  It  was  not,  in- 
deed, because  he  advocated  Popery ;  thrice  had  the 
Puritans  attempted  to  convict  him  of  this,  and  they 
had  failed :  but  it  was  because  his  mind  rose  supe- 
rior to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  age  ;  it  was  because 
he  rejected  not  the  good  which  is  to  be  found  com- 
mixed with  the  superstition  of  Rome ;  it  was  be- 
cause he  well  understood  the  whole  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church,  and  attacked  the  Papists 
with  their  own  weapons.  On  Bishop  Hall's  own 
shewing,  the  Papists  rejected  him  :  "  our  adversa- 
ries," says  he,  "  think  you  ours :"  the  Puritans  of 
course  rejected  him  ;  "  we  think  you  theirs."  Laud, 
then,  was  neither  Papist  nor  Puritan  in  principle. 
There  were  in  those  times,  as  there  are  yet,  two  ex- 
tremes ;  Popery  and  Sectarianism.  Laud  steered 
clear  of  both ;  he  was,  therefore,  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Church  of  England,  a  supporter  and  strenu- 
ous advocate  of  its  doctrines,  a  defender  of  its  con- 
stitution. His  object  was  truth,  and  the  interests 
of  the  Reformation  ;  and  so  zealous  was  he  in  the 
path  of  duty,  that  he  had  no  enemies  more  bitter 
against  him  than  the  members  of  that  church  which 
he  was  charged  with  favouring.  This  conduct, 
however,  seems  to  be  a  component  part  of  Noncon- 


1606.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  123 

formity.  In  the  present  day,  if  a  Christian  be  in- 
clined to  reason  calmly  and  rationally,  he  is  imme- 
diately branded  by  the  visionary  zealots  of  evange- 
lism as  being  irreligious  and  careless — a  moralist ;  if 
he  does  not  incessantly  talk  about  election,  faith, 
and  the  total  wretchedness  of  man,  he  is  called 
unsound,  Pelagian,  or  Arminian ;  if  he  does  not 
patronise  all  the  fanaticism  exhibited  at  missionary 
and  other  meetings  (excellent,  doubtless,  in  them- 
selves if  rightly  conducted),  where  men  meet  merely 
to  sound  each  others'  praise,  to  pay  fulsome  compli- 
ments, to  talk  bombastic  jargon,  and  "  to  be  seen  of 
men,"  immediately  he  is  traduced  as  caring  not  for 
the  soul,  as  being  unregenerated,  "  yet  in  tres- 
passes and  sins."  And  if  he  be  a  minister  of  the 
Church,  how  unfortunate  is  his  case  ?  He  is  calum- 
niated every  where  as  caring  for  "  none  of  these 
things."  And  to  such  an  improvement  has  the  age 
attained  in  these  weighty  matters,  that  the  very 
women  have  set  themselves  up  as  judges  and  critics 
in  matters  of  religious  controversy,  and  he  is  only 
accounted  the  gospel  minister  who  whines  about 
them,  and  flatters  them  with  compliments  on  their 
spiritual  perfection. 

But  if  Laud  had  been  a  mere  worldly  priest,  as 
his  enemies  represented  him,  if  he  had  merely  his 
own  interest  in  view,  and  had  been  in  heart  a  Pa- 
pist, then  did  he  indeed  make  a  sacrifice  by  remain- 
ing in  the  Church  of  England,  instead  of  going  over 
to  that  of  Rome ;  he  would  not  have  remained  in 
the  Protestant  Church  a  single  hour.  Is  it  said 
7 


124  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1606. 

that  he  wanted  to  make  it  Popish  ?  How  absurd  is 
the  charge,  when  throughout  a  long  life,  in  all  his 
actions  and  writings,  and  at  the  hour  of  death,  he 
defended  the  Protestant  constitution.  His  interest 
at  this  time  in  the  Church  was  not  so  great  as  to  in- 
duce him  to  remain ;  he  had  no  preferment,  but,  as 
Clarendon  observes,  a  poor  Fellowship  :  nor  had  he 
hopes  of  greater,  for  his  concern  in  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire's  marriage  had  completely  prejudiced 
James  against  him;  and  this,  perhaps,  was  the  rea- 
son why  he  was  more  than  middle-aged  before  he 
was  promoted.  He  had  few  or  no  powerful  friends 
at  court,  whose  patronage  could  be  extended  to- 
wards him ;  and  we  have  yet  to  learn  from  his  ene- 
mies', that  he  was  endowed  with  a  prophetical  spirit, 
by  which  he  could  foresee  his  future  grandeur,  and 
wait  with  patience  till  he  emerged  from  the  cloisters 
of  his  venerable  University.  And  when  he  did  ob- 
tain preferment,  what  was  it  for  such  a  man  as  he  ? 
It  was  not  like  that  of  his  adversary,  Abbot,  who, 
more  fortunate  in  his  chaplaincy,  stepped  almost 
from  the  University  into  a  bishopric ;  but  it  was 
an  humble  benefice,  in  which  he  faithfully  per- 
formed his  duty  as  a  parish  priest,  and  from  it  his 
advancement  was  slow  and  gradual.  It  was  against 
his  worldly  interest,  therefore,  though  it  was  accord- 
ing to  his  principles,  to  remain  in  the  Church  of 
England ;  that  Church  held  out  to  him  no  alluring 
prospect ;  whereas  in  the  Church  of  Rome  he  would 
have  been  received  with  open  arms,  and  would  have 
obtained,  perhaps,  no  small  portion  of  its  ecclesias- 


1606.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  125 

tical  importance.  And,  had  his  enemies  reflected 
for  a  moment,  they  would  have  seen  the  absurdity 
of  charging  a  man  with  Popery  for  maintaining 
those  grand  truths  which  they  admitted  in  practice, 
though  they  denied  in  theory — the  visibility  of  the 
church,  the  necessity  of  infant  baptism,  the  divine 
warrant  for  Episcopacy.  These  were  truths  directly 
opposed  to  Calvinism  in  church-polity ;  but  they 
were  truths  to  which  those  men  who  so  violently 
traduced  Laud  had  subscribed,  and  to  which  those 
"  new  reformers,"  as  professing  to  be  members  of 
the  Church  of  England,  although  they  pretended 
to  desire  what  they  called  a  "  godly  reformation/' 
were  bound  to  maintain  and  defend,  if  they  wished 
to  preserve  their  consistency ;  or  else  to  leave  a 
Church,  the  peace  of  which  they  disturbed  by  their 
contentions,  but  which,  according  to  the  notions  of 
their  modern  admirers,  "  was  not  worthy  of  them !" 


126  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1606, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1606—1616. 

Archbishop  Bancroft — His  prudent  conduct — Laud's  prefer- 
ments— His  generosity — Bishop  Neile — Haired  of  Abbot  to- 
wards Laud — Friendship  of  Bishop  Neile — Laud  is  chosen 
President  of  St.  John's — His  election  disputed — Decided  in 
his  favour  by  the  King — His  conduct — Death  of  Archbishop 
Bancroft — His  character — Inconsistencies  of  the  Puritans — 
Their  inveterate  prejudices — Danger  and  evil  of  sectarianism 
— Promotion  of  Archbishop  Abbot — His  enthusiasm — En- 
couragement of  the  Puritans — Effects  of  his  primacy — His 
opposition  to  Laud — Laud's  promotion — Dr.  Robert  Abbot — 
His  sermon  against  Laud — Gloucester  Cathedral — Instruc- 
tions of  the  King  to  the  University  of  Oxford. 

DR.  RICHARD  BANCROFT  succeeded  the  venerable 
Whitgift  in  the  See  of  Canterbury, — a  prelate 
worthy  of  the  government  of  the  Church.  His 
progress  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  while  a 
student,  marked  his  great  abilities  ;  and  his  prefer- 
ments, after  he  left  the  University,  enabled  him  to 
display  his  assiduity  in  defending  the  Church 
against  the  attacks  of  enthusiasm  *.  While  he 
was  prebendary  of  Westminster,  he  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  a  sermon  preached  in  1593,  at 

1  Newcourt,  Repertorium,  &c.     Le  Neve's  Lives  and  Cha- 
racters of  Protestant  Bishops. 


1606.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  127 

St.  Paul's  Cross,  against  the  Puritans,  in  which  in 
glowing  colours  he  exhibited  their  extravagance, 
their  ambition,  and  the  tendency  of  their  principles 
to  mutiny  and  disorder  l.  In  1597,  he  had  been 
advanced  to  the  See  of  London,  when  he  was 
Chaplain  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury2,  and 
from  this  period  he  in  reality  managed  the  archie- 
piscopal  see,  and  governed  the  Church,  as  Whit- 
gift's  declining  health  had  rendered  him  unfit  for 
business,  and  his  advanced  age  required  an  active 
and  efficient  coadjutor 3. 

Many  important  events  had  in  the  mean  time 
occurred.  Religious  disputes  ran  high  in  that  age, 
and  required  all  the  vigilance  and  activity  of  the 
Church  to  restrain  the  inciters  of  them  within  due 
bounds.  Sufficient  indications  were  given  that  the 
reign  of  fanaticism  was  fast  approaching,  when  the 
sectaries,  determined  no  longer  to  be  peaceful 
members  of  the  state,  were  resolved  to  obtain  the 
ascendancy.  The  turbulence  of  the  Scots  had  been 
a  source  of  annoyance  to  the  government,  and, 
stimulated  by  the  furious  zeal  of  the  Melvilles  and 
their  associates,  their  conduct  had  become  intolerable, 
their  spirit  that  of  factious  demagogues,  their  sedi- 
tious principles  had  been  widely  diffused  through- 
out the  nation  4.  The  laws  for  Episcopacy,  I  have 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  609,  610. 

2  Strype's  Lives,  p.  515. 

3  Fuller's  Worthies  of  England,  Lancashire,  p.  112. 

*  Spottiswoode's  Hi&tory  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  book  vii. 


128  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1609. 

already  observed,  had  never  been  repealed  in  that 
kingdom,  not  even  in  those  Parliaments  in  which 
the  influence  of  Knox  preponderated,  nor  was  the 
nation  at  all  favourable  to  Presbyterianism,  till 
Andrew  Melville  practised  in  the  General  Assembly, 
and  induced  that  ecclesiastical  court  to  legislate  on 
€ivil  affairs.  The  violent  opposition  which  James 
experienced,  made  him  summon  to  London  the 
Melvilles,  and  others  of  their  associates,  that  they 
might  answer  for  their  conduct  and  opposition  to- 
wards the  Episcopal  Church.  They  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, and  proceeded  to  Hampton  Court,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1609,  when  four  distinguished  men,  namely, 
Dr.  Andrews,  Bishop  of  Chichester  ;  Dr.  Barlow, 
Bishop  of  Rochester;  Dr.  King,  then  Dean  of 
Christ  Church,  and  Dr.  Buckeridge,  already  men- 
tioned, were  appointed  to  preach  before  the  King, 
that  they  might  the  more  fully  explain  the  doctrine 
and  principles  of  the  Church  of  England,  of  which 
the  Scottish  Presbyterians  were  utterly  ignorant. 
Buckeridge,  on  this  occasion,  discoursed  from  Rom. 
xiii.  1.  and  discussed  in  a  masterly  manner  the 
point  of  the  king's  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters. "  He  handled  it,"  says  Archbishop  Spottis- 
woode,  who  was  present  at  the  sermon,  "  both 
learnedly  and  soundly,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  the 
hearers  ;  but  that  the  Scottish  ministers  seemed  very 
much  grieved  to  hear  the  Pope  and  the  Presbytery 

Sanderson's  Life  of  King  James.  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii. 
Kirkton's  Secret  and  True  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
Introd.  Law's  Memorials,  edited  by  C.  K.  Sharp,  Esq 


1607.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  129 

so  often  equalled  in  their  opposition  to  sovereign 
princes  V  Buckeridge,  however,  and  his  able  coad- 
jutors, discoursed  to  men  who  were  above  the  reach 
of  argument  or  reason  :  they  made  no  impression  on 
the  Scots,  who  had  resolved,  before  they  set  out,  to 
continue  in  their  opposition.  The  condescension  of 
the  king,  too,  was,  of  course,  repaid  by  the  insolence 
of  Andrew  Melville,  who,  hurried  along  by  his  vio- 
lent temper,  forgot  that  respect  which  was  due  to 
his  superiors,  and  seemed  to  believe  that  every  man 
who  was  not  a  follower  of  Calvin  was  an  enemy  to 
the  Reformation.  For  his  republican  fanaticism, 
his  contempt  of  the  king's  authority,  and  his  inso- 
lence to  Archbishop  Bancroft,  he  was  shortly  after- 
wards punished  by  imprisonment  and  exile :  but 
though  Scotland  was  deprived  of  that  great  apostle 
of  Presbytery,  it  was  not  before  he  had  infused  his 
principles  among  his  associates,  and  taught  them 
the  tenets  of  opposition 2. 

Laud  was  now  thirty-four  years  of  age,  and  he 
had  as  yet  resided  almost  constantly  at  the  Univer- 
sity. But  in  this  year,  1607,  being  then  Bachelor 
of  Divinity,  he  received  his  first  preferment,  which 
was  the  vicarage  of  Stamford,  in  Northamptonshire3, 

1  Spottiswoode's  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  book 
vii.  p.  497. 

2  Dr.  M'Crie's  Life  of  Andrew  Melville,  vol.  i. 

3  "  6th  Nov.  1607, Will.  Laud,  cler.  institutus  S.  T.  B.  ad  vie. 
perpet.  eccl.  paroch.  de  Stamford,  ad  pres.  Tho.  Cave,  mil,  per 
resign.     Robt.  Walker,  ult.  incumb.  resign,  ante  2  Dec.  1609." 
Reg.  Dove.  ep.  Petrib. 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1608-9. 

into  which  he  was  inducted  on  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber ;  and  in  the  following  April  he  received  the  ad- 
vowson  of  North  Kilworth,  in  Leicestershire.  In 
the  summer  of  this  year  he  proceeded  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  While  engaged  in  his  parochial  duties, 
he  was  recommended  by  Dr.  Buckeridge,  his  former 
tutor,  to  Dr.  Neile,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  a  prelate 
who  was  well  instructed  in  the  history  and  consti- 
tution of  the  Church,  and  knew  how  to  distinguish 
its  zealous  and  sincere  defenders.  Laud  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  his  chaplains,  August  5,  1608,  and 
was  received  into  his  confidence,  on  which  occasion 
he  exchanged  his  living  of  North  Kilworth  for 
the  rectory  of  West  Tilbury,  in  Essex,  into  which 
he  was  inducted  on  the  28th  of  October,  1609 l, 
that  he  might  be  near  his  friend  and  patron 2. 
He  had,  however,  previous  to  this,  on  the  17th 
of  September,  preached  his  first  sermon  before 
King  James  at  Theobalds.  Next  year,  on  the 
25th  of  May,  he  was  presented  by  Bishop  Neile 
to  the  living  of  Cuckstone,  in  Kent;  on  ac- 
count of  which,  on  the  2d  of  October,  he  re- 


1  "  1609,  26  Oct.  Will.  Laud,  cler.  admiss.  ad  ecclesiam  de 
West  Tilbury,  per  resign.  Job.  Boake,  S.  T.  B.  ad  pres.  regis." 
Reg.  Bancroft,  Ep.  London. 

2  Diary,  p.  2.     Lloyd's  Memoires,  p.  226,  and  State  Wor- 
tbies  of  England,  Lond.   12mo.  edit.  1670.     Fuller's  Cburch 
History,  book  x.     Wood's  Atben.   Oxon.  vol.  iii.  col.   121 . 
Heylin,  p.  55.  Prynne's  Life  and  Trial  of  Laud,  p.  2. — Prynne 
says,  Laud  was  inducted  into  Stamford  on  Nov.  16.     Laud,  in 
bis  own  Diary,  says  Nov.  13. 


1610.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  131 

signed  his  Fellowship  in  St.  John's,  and  resided  on 
his  benefice  \ 

The  generosity  of  Dr.  Laud's  disposition  was  re- 
markably conspicuous  in  those  minor  preferments. 
We  are  informed  by  an  author,  that  he  was  no 
sooner  invested  in  any  of  those  livings  than  he  gave 
twelve  poor  people  an  annual  allowance  out  of  them, 
besides  "  his  constant  practice  of  repairing  the 
houses,  and  furnishing  the  churches,  wheresoever 
he  came 2."  His  parish  duties,  too,  he  discharged 
with  zealous  assiduity,  faithfully  expounding  to  his 
hearers  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
in  all  things  exhibiting  a  conduct  worthy  of  a  man 
who  assumes  the  important  office  of  a  parish  priest. 

While  at  Cuckstone,  Laud  was  attacked  by  an 
ague,  brought  on  by  the  unhealthiness  of  the  place, 
which  confined  him  two  months.  He  was,  after  his 
recovery,  compelled  to  exchange  this  benefice  for  that 
of  Norton,  one  of  less  value,  but  more  agreeably 
situated.  In  the  mean  time  his  friend  and  patron, 
Bishop  Neile,  was  removed  to  the  see  of  Lichfield, 
and  that  prelate  was  not  forgetful  of  his  chaplain  on 
this  occasion ;  for  having  held  the  Deanery  of  West- 
minster in  commendam  with  the  see  of  Rochester, 
before  he  resigned  it,  he  recommended  Laud  so 
powerfully  to  the  king,  that  he  obtained  for  him  a 
prebend's  stall  in  that  cathedral.  His  preceptor, 

1  Diary,  p.  3.     Lloyd,  Heylin,  Fuller,  &c.  ut  sup.    Rapin's 
History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  fol.     Camden's  Annals.    Chalmers' 
Biography.  Original  MS.  of  Dr.  Heylin,  Lansdowne  MSS.  721. 

2  Lloyd's  Memoires,  p.  2£8. 

K  2 


132  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1610. 

too,  Dr.  Buckeridge,  having  succeeded  Bishop 
Neile  in  the-  see  of  Rochester,  retained  towards  him 
the  warmest  friendship,  on  account  of  his  great 
talents  and  attachment  to  the  Church.  Thus  did 
Providence,  notwithstanding  Laud's  many  enemies, 
and  the  numerous  slanders  which  they  sent  abroad 
against  him,  pave  the  way  for  his  future  advance- 
ment, and  prove  him  worthy  of  the  patronage  of  his 
venerable  and  distinguished  superiors. 

The  promotion  of  Dr.  Buckeridge  occasioned  his 
resignation  of  the  Presidency  of  St.  John's  College, 
which  happened  during  the  time  that  Laud  was 
confined  at  Cuckstone  by  the  ague.  He  had  often 
ardently  wished  for  an  influential  situation  in  the 
University,  which  would  enable  him  to  suppress 
those  disorders  which  the  Puritan  faction,  under 
the  fostering  auspices  of  Abbot,  were  daily  making 
more  prevalent.  Bishop  Buckeridge  had  corre- 
sponded with  him  on  the  subject,  and  was  deter- 
mined to  support  a  man  as  his  successor,  who  had 
remained  unmoved  amidst  all  the  slanders  and  per- 
secutions of  the  Calvinists.  Accordingly,  Laud  stood 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  St.  John's ;  but,  as 
there  was  a  considerable  probability  of  his  success, 
Dr.  Robert  Abbot,  who  had  by  this  time  been  pro- 
moted to  the  see  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry  in  the 
room  of  Dr.  Neile,  who  had  been  again  translated 
to  the  see  of  Lincoln,  resolved  by  every  exertion  to 
thwart  his  success,  suspecting  and  fearing  the  pro- 
motion of  his  opponent.  "  So  natural  a  thing  it 
is,"  as  Heylin  well  observes, "  to  hate  the  man  whom 

£  z  ' 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  133 

we  have  wronged ;  to  keep  him  down,  whom  we 
have  any  cause  to  fear,  when  we  have  him  in  our 
power."  For  this  purpose,  Abbot,  indefatigable  in 
his  opposition,  made  heavy  complaints  against  him 
to  Lord  Ellesmere,  High  Chancellor  of  the  kingdom, 
who  had  unfortunately  been  chosen  Chancellor  of  the 
University.  The  substance  of  Abbot's  insinuations 
was  the  old  report  of  Laud's  popish  inclinations. 
He  alleged  that  "  he  was  a  Papist  at  heart,  and 
cordially  addicted  to  Popery  ;"  that  "  he  kept  com- 
pany with  real  and  suspected  Papists ;"  and  that, 
"  if  he  were  suffered  to  have  any  place  of  govern- 
ment in  the  University,  it  would  undoubtedly  turn 
to  the  great  detriment  of  religion,  and  the  dishonour 
of  his  Lordship."  The  Chancellor,  believing  Abbot's 
representations,  immediately  informed  the  king ; 
and  thus  his  chance  of  election  was  almost  frus- 
trated. 

But  Bishop  Neile  did  not  desert  Laud  on  this 
occasion.  Knowing  well  the  falsehood  of  those  in- 
sinuations, he  nobly  defended  him  to  the  king,  and 
happily  succeeded  in  removing  the  royal  prejudice. 
Laud  was  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  a  majority  of  the 
votes  of  the  Fellows,  and  he  was  accordingly  elected 
President  of  St.  John's  on  the  10th  of  May,  1611, 
during  the  time  of  his  illness  at  London.  The 
enmity  of  the  faction  against  him,  however,  did  not 
stop  here ;  "  though/'  as  he  himself  says,  "  he  made 
no  party  then,  for  four  being  in  nomination  for  that 
headship,  he  lay  then  so  sick  at  London,  that  he  was 
neither  able  to  go  to  Oxford,  nor  so  much  as  write 


134  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

to  his  friends  about  it1."  In  his  Diary,  when  re- 
cording this  affair,  he  justly  charges  Abbot  with 
being  the  cause  of  all  his  troubles 2.  His  enemies 
quarrelled  at  his  election,  and  he  found  more  oppo- 
sition than  he  at  first  expected  ;  for  bejng  opposed 
by  another  candidate,  named  Rawlinson,  Fellow 
of  St.  John's,  and  afterwards  Principal  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's Hall,  after  the  election  Had  been  declared  in 
Laud's  favour,  one  of  the  other  party  snatched  the 
paper  containing  the  scrutiny,  and  tore  it  to 
pieces.  Laud's  enemies  took  advantage  of  this  cir- 
cumstance, and  appealed  to  the  King,  thinking, 
from  what  Abbot  had  reported  through  the  me- 
dium of  Lord  Ellesmere,  that  his  Majesty  would 
decide  in  their  favour.  This  appeal  was  heard  by 
James  at  Tichbourne,  in  Hampshire,  as  he  was 
returning  from  an  excursion  to  the  western  counties, 
on  the  28th  of  August.  Both  parties  were  heard 
for  the  space  of  three  hours,  and,  after  a  full  in- 
vestigation of  the  proofs  adduced  on  both  sides, 
Laud's  election  was  confirmed,  to  the  great  morti- 
fication of  Abbot  and  his  friends.  The  affirmation 
of  the  election,  we  are  informed,  was  given  on  St. 
John  Baptist's  day,  the  Saint  after  whom  the  Col- 
lege had  been  named  by  the  munificent  founder, 
which,  because  St.  John  the  Baptist  was  beheaded, 
was  looked  upon  afterwards  by  Laud's  fanatical  and 
superstitious  enemies,  who  eagerly  caught  at  every 

1  Answer  of  Laud  to  the  Speech  of  William  Lord  Say  and 
Sele  touching  the  Liturgy,  edit.  1695,  p.  474. 

2  Diary,  p.  3. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  135 

thing  to  gratify  their  malice,  as  a  prognostication  of 
the  death  which  its  new  President  was  to  suffer. 

Laud's  election  being  thus  finally  ratified  by  the 
king,  he  was  admitted  President  of  St.  John's,  and, 
in  the  exercise  of  his  duty,  he  was  compelled  to  make 
an  example  of  some  of  those  who  had  abetted  the 
disorders  by  tearing  the  paper  containing  the  scru- 
tiny of  election.  The  principal  individual  was  of 
course  selected,  and  here  the  conduct  of  the  Presi- 
dent, and  that  of  his  enemies,  afford  a  striking  con- 
trast. Although  the  member  had  committed  an 
act  which  would  have  justified  expulsion,  or  at  least 
some  very  severe  sentence,  yet  Laud,  knowing  his 
talents,  not  only  pardoned  him,  but  bestowed  on 
him  special  marks  of  favour,  made  him  his  chaplain, 
"  preferred  him,'*  says  Heylin,  "  from  one  good  be- 
nefice to  another,  married  him  to  his  brother's 
daughter,  and  finally  promoted  him  to  the  very  Pre- 
sidency which  had  been  the  first  cause  of  the  breach, 
and  to  one  of  the  best  deaneries  in  the  kingdom." 
Such  was  the  magnanimity  of  this  great  man,  who, 
in  every  action  of  his  life,  rose  superior  to  the  petty 
distinctions  of  party,  even  when  injured  and  calum- 
niated. "  To  the  other  Fellows,"  continues  this 
writer,  "  who  had  opposed  him  in  his  election  to 
that  place,  he  always  shewed  a  fair  and  equal  coun- 
tenance, hoping  to  gain  them  by  degrees ;  but  if  he 
found  any  of  them  to  be  untractable,  not  easily  to 
be  gained  by  favours,  he  would  find  some  handsome 
way  or  other  to  remove  them  out  of  the  College, 
that  others,  not  engaged  upon  either  side,  might 


136  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

succeed  in  their  places.  But,  notwithstanding  all 
this  care,  the  faction  still  held  up  against  him,  the 
younger  fry  inclining  to  the  same  side  which  had 
been  taken  by  their  tutors." 

Laud,  however,  was  not  to  be  overcome,  and, 
exercising  his  accustomed  patience  and  moderation, 
in  November  following,  by  his  wise  and  prudent 
choice  of  the  officers  belonging  to  the  College,  he  at 
length  succeeded  in  reducing  this  spirit  of  factious 
turbulence.  In  this  month,  too,  his  Puritan  ene- 
mies were  farther  mortified  by  the  conduct  of  the 
king ;  for,  through  the  influence  of  Bishop  Neile, 
his  constant  friend,  he  was  admitted  one  of  the 
royal  chaplains.  But  whilst  Laud  had  been  com- 
bating with  his  enemies  at  Oxford,  the  venerable 
Bancroft  departed  this  life  on  the  2d  of  November, 
1610,  after  having  occupied  the  see  of  Canterbury 
little  more  than  six  years.  With  him,  it  has  been 
too  truly  remarked,  died  the  uniformity  of  the 
Church  of  England.  He  died  of  the  stone,  at  his 
palace  of  Lambeth,  in  the  64th  year  of  his,  age l. 

1  His  body,  according  to  his  orders,  was  buried  in  the  chan- 
cel of  Lambeth  Church,  and  on  the  flat  stone  over  his  grave 
there  is  the  following  inscription : — (Stowe's  Survey,  &e.  of 
London,  p.  790.) 

VOLENTE  DEO. 

Hie  jacet  Ricardus  Bancroft,  S.  Theologia? 
Professor,  Episcopus  Londinensis  primo, 
Deinde  Cantuarensis  Archiepiscopus,  et 
Regi  Jacobo  secretioribus  Conciliis  obiit 
Secundo  Novembris,  An.  Dom.  1610.  JEtat.  suae  67. 
YOLENTE  DEO. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  137 

He  was  a  iigid  defender  of  the  Church,  a  vigilant 
governor  and  disciplinarian,  learned  in  controversial 
theology,  an  admirable  preacher,  and  a  distinguished 
statesman.  In  his  famous  sermon  against  the  Pu- 
ritans, there  is  an  elegance  of  style,  an  eloquence, 
and  a  logical  arrangement,  which  prove  him  to  have 
been  a  master  in  composition.  His  character  is  of 
course  traduced  by  the  Puritan  historian,  who  says, 
he  was  a  "  divine  of  a  rough  temper,  a  perfect  crea- 
ture of  the  prerogative,  and  a  declared  enemy  of  the 
religious  and  civil  liberties  of  the  country  V  And 
again,  "  This  prelate  left  behind  him  no  extraordi- 
nary character  for  piety,  learning,  hospitality,  or 
any  other  episcopal  quality 2."  The  same  invective 
has  been  repeated  by  similar  writers,  in  order  that 
they  might  justify  the  excesses  of  their  friends  3. 
Among  our  general  historians,  too,  there  are  found 

He  left  his  library  to  the  Archbishops  his  successors  for  ever, 
upon  condition  that  his  successor  would  leave  it  as  he  found  it, 
and  if  not,  he  left  it  to  Chelsea  College,  then  building,  on  con-* 
dition  of  its  being  finished  at  a  certain  time,  and  if  not,  to  the 
University  of  Cambridge.  Whether  Abbot  and  Laud,  his  suc- 
cessors, gave  the  security,  does  not  appear,  but  the  library  re- 
mained at  Lambeth  till  the  Commonwealth,  when,  by  the  failure 
of  Chelsea  College,  and  the  fall  of  the  Church  establishment,  it 
was  acquired  by  the  University  of  Cambridge.  It  was  retained 
there  till  after  the  Restoration,  when  Archbishop  Juxon  de- 
manded this  splendid  library,  and  his  successor,  Archbishop 
Sheldon,  succeeded  in  getting  it  restored  to  Lambeth  Palace. 

1  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  41. 

2  Ibid,  ut  sup.  p.  91. 

'  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet,  in  their  History  of  Dissenters, 
vol.  iii.     M'Crie's  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i. 


138  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

enemies  to  his  memory;  by  one  he  is  called  the 
fiery  Bancroft l ;  and  the  author  of  the  "  Altar  of 
Damascus"  has  contributed  his  share  of  abuse2. 
Another  writer  says,  that  "  Bancroft  filled  the  see 
of  Canterbury  with  no  extraordinary  reputation : 
he  had  extreme  high  notions  of  government  in 
Church  and  State,  and  was  strongly  suspected  of 
having  cherished  the  king's  disposition  to  assume  a 
power  above  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  coun- 
try. He  was  most  certainly  a  greater  friend  to  pre- 
rogative than  to  liberty;  and  what  with  the  want  of 
an  hospitality  that  became  a  bishop,  what  with  the 
roughness  of  his  temper,  and  his  high  and  arbitrary 
notions,  he  was  but  little  regarded  in  his  station  as 
the  head  of  the  Church 3."  It  is  amusing  to  ob- 
serve, however,  the  contradictions  of  these  writers. 
They  ascribe  to  an  exercise  of  what  they  call  arbi- 

1  Confessional,  p.  277,  278,  279. 

2  He  says,  that  when  the  Primate  enforced  the  strict  observ- 
ance of  all  the  Festivals  of  the  Church,  &c.  according  to  the 
first  Service-Book  of  Edward  VI.. by  compelling  the  clergy  to 
subscribe  over  again  the  three  Articles  of  Whitgift,  which,  by 
the  36th  canon,  they  were  obliged  to  declare  they  did  willingly 
and  from  the  heart,  300  ministers  were  deprived  or  silenced, 
either  by  banishment,  excommunication,  or  imprisonment.  The 
number,  however,  is  grossly  exaggerated,  for,  from  the  lists 
given  in  by  Bancroft  before  his  death,  it  appears  that  not  more 
than  forty-nine  were  deprived  in  any  way.    This,  in  a  kingdom 
such  as  England,  and  in  that  age,  was  no  great  number ;  but 
perhaps  the  worthy  writer,  in  order  to  make  out  a  case,  com- 
prehended all  those  who  were  indulging  in  scruples. 

3  Warner's  Eccles.  Hist,  of  Eng.  fol.  1759,  vol.  ii,  p.  496, 
497. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  139 

trary  power,  whatever  influence  a  man  high  in  sta- 
tion, whom  they  chose  to  vilify,  may  have  possessed. 
This  author,  nevertheless,  makes  the  following  ad- 
mission, which  it  is  but  fair  to  quote  :  "  If  we  read 
of  no  extraordinary  virtues  in  this  prelate,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  there  are  no  vices  laid  to  his  charge  by 
those  who  did  not  esteem  him,  but  cruelty  and  co- 
vetousness,  which,  when  they  are  examined  narrowly 
into,  appear  not  to  deserve  those  names  in  the 
strictest  acceptation.  In  short,  there  have  been 
archbishops  who  have  been  much  worse  than  Ban- 
croft, who,  by  their  good  humour  and  generosity, 
have  been  more  esteemed  when  living,  and  more 
lamented  at  their  death  V 

Amidst  the  jarring  testimonies  of  prejudice  and 
passion,  occasioned,  for  the  most  part,  by  keen 
disappointment  and  neglect,  it  is  extremely  difficult 
to  ascertain  truth.  The  private  feelings  of  such  a 
writer  are  minutely  recorded,  and  the  passions 
which  he  cherished  deprive  him  of  that  faculty  of 
investigation  as  to  motives,  which  must  first  be 
noted  before  we  predicate  any  thing  of  actions. 
Accordingly  we  find,  that  the  Puritan  writers  and 
their  modern  defenders,  one  and  all,  pursue  the 
same  beaten  track,  and,  determined  to  condemn  a 
man  who  did  not  espouse  their  cause,  and  who 
was  actuated  by  conscientious  motives  much  more 
than  they  pretended  to  be,  they  took  every  advan- 
tage to  establish  their  conclusions ;  and,  when  every 

1  Warner's  Eccles.  Hist,  of  Eng,  vol.  ii.  p.  4-96,  497. 

7 


140  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

other  resource  failed,  they  addressed  themselves  to 
the  prejudices  of  the  people,  and  began  their  usual 
declamations  about  liberty  and  popular  rights.  It 
is  too  evident,  that  the  testimonies  of  Puritans 
must  be  received  with  caution,  for,  even  granting 
that  they  were  justified  in  their  opposition,  what 
dependence  can  be  placed  on  men  who  were  stimu- 
lated by  hatred,  disappointment,  neglect,  enthu- 
siasm, love  of  novelty,  and  determined  opposition 
to  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power  ?  Often,  indeed, 
they  pretended  to  wish  for  fair  and  manly  argu- 
ment, yet  what  was  their  conduct  when  put  to  the 
trial  ?  When  challenged  to  gird  up  their  loins  like 
men,  invited  to  descend  into  the  arena  of  discus- 
sion, and  thoroughly  contest  their  points  of  dispute, 
did  they  accept  the  invitation,  or  boldly  come  for- 
ward and  meet  their  opponents  by  sound,  scrip- 
tural, and  rational  argument  ?  Had  they  done  so, 
some  respect  might  have  been  shewn  to  their  intre- 
pidity, and  it  were  to  be  wished  that  at  the  present 
time  they  would  give  a  sufficient  reason  for  "  the 
hope  that  is  in  them."  But,  amid  the  numberless 
divisions,  strifes,  and  differences  of  opinion,  which 
characterised  the  Puritanism  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  which  do  still  distinguish  dissension 
from  the  Church,  (and  Dissension  or  Sectarianism 
carries  with  it  the  canker-worm  of  dissatisfaction, 
discordance,  and  private  interpretation,  which  eats 
it  in  its  very  vitals,)  amid  these,  I  say,  we  look  in 
vain  for  any  thing  like  general  harmony  of  opinion 
on  religious  matters,  and  nothing,  save  a  simulta- 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  141 

neous  consent  to  vilify  and  oppose  the  Church  and 
the  civil  power.  I  do  not  deny,  that  there  might 
be  some  points  which  bore  hard  on  the  Puritans,  and 
which  ought  to  have  been  modified,  and  rendered 
less  severe  ;  but  where  is  the  government  that  is 
immaculate,  or  where  the  church  that  is  faultless  in 
its  administration  ?  If  they  had  been  successful  in 
modifying  the  Church  to  suit  their  own  wishes, 
would  they  have  made  it,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  present  appearance  of  Dissent,  a  harmonious 
communion,  pure  and  faultless  ?  But  their  error  was, 
that  they  rejected  all  authority  in  reasoning,  they 
adopted  the  pernicious  system  of  private  interpre- 
tation, and  where  was  the  barrier  to  fanaticism  ? 
they  looked  with  contempt  on  human  learning,  and 
how  could  they  escape  the  wild  dreams  of  a  heated 
imagination  ?  they  revelled  in  the  visionary  fancies 
of  enthusiasm,  could  their  minds,  in  such  a  state, 
reflect  and  reason  with  impartiality  ?  Moreover, 
the  Puritans  fell  into  those  worst  of  all  errors  and 
extremes,  which  unfortunately  are  amply  inherited 
by  some  sects  of  the  present  day, — they  forgot 
that  many  parts  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  although 
adapted  to  our  instruction  and  edification,  are  not 
applicable  to  us  in  our  circumstances,  but  strictly  to 
those  who  made  the  transition  from  paganism  and 
idolatry  to  Christianity, — they  forgot  that  the  apos- 
tolic times  were  widely  different  from  those  of  the 
seventeenth  century, — and  they  endeavoured  to  as- 
similate every  expression  which  they  found  in  holy 
Scripture  to  their  own  visionary  ideas  of  spirituality. 


142  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

Could  such  men,  then,  violent  sticklers  for  private 
interpretation,  be  candid  judges,  or  could  it  be  ex- 
pected that  they  would  be  favourable  to  those  who 
defended  the  constitution  of  the  Church  against 
foreign  innovation  ? 

Our  great  authorities,  then,  in  ascertaining  the 
truth  on  the  motives  and  actions  of  men  in  that 
age  of  fermentation>  are  those  who  write  in  defence 
of  the  Church,  for  this  reason,  that  they  had  no 
prejudices  to  gratify.  The  power  was  in  their 
hands,  and  they  were  required  to  exercise  it,  but 
to  whom  were  they  accountable  ?  Not  certainly  to 
the  Puritans,  who  were  but  a  party  in  the  nation. 
Unmoved  by  any  of  those  excitements  of  passion 
which  the  Puritans  felt,  they  wrote  without  any  pri- 
vate animosity.  Let  us  then  notice  the  testimonies  of 
other  writers  concerning  Archbishop  Bancroft,  for 
it  is  from  the  character  of  the  clergy  that  we  can 
principally  arrive  at  a  right  knowledge  of  the  state 
of  the  Church.  "  He  was,"  says  Camden,  "  a 
person  of  singular  courage  and  prudence  in  all 
matters  relative  to  the  discipline  and  establishment 
of  the  Church1."  Fuller  observes,  that  he  was  an 
excellent  preacher,  happy  in  raising  the  affections 
of  his  auditory,  which,  having  excited,  he  could 
preserve  till  the  close  of  his  sermon ;  and  an  indus- 
trious writer,  as  his  Commentaries  on  the  Five 
Books  of  Moses,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed, 
and  Commandments,  with  other  portions  of  Scrip- 

f  Camden's  Brittanica,  by  Bishop  Gibson,  vol.  i.  col.  24?. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  143 

ture,  testify1.  "His  adversaries,"  says  this  old 
writer,  "  describe  him  as  a  greater  statesman  than 
divine,  a  better  divine  than  preacher,  though  his 
printed  Sermon  testifieth  his  abilities.  I  find  two 
faults  charged  on  his  memory,  cruelty  and  covetous- 
ness.  To  the  first  it  is  confessed  he  was  most  stern 
and  stiff  to  press  conformity ;  but  what  more  usual 
than  for  offenders  to  nickname  necessary  severity  as 
cruelty?  As  for  his  covetousness,  he  never  was 
observed  in  his  own  person  to  aim  at  the  enriching 
of  his  kindred  :" — "  his  clear  estate  at  his  death 
did  not  exceed  six  thousand  pounds  ;  no  great  sum 
to  make  a  single  man  covetous,  who  had  sat  six 
years  in  the  See  of  Canterbury,  and  somewhat 
longer  in  London2."  , 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  56,  57. 

2  Wilson,  in  his  Life  of  King  James,  (apud  Complete  Hist, 
of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  10.)  "  A  witty  writer,"  says  Fuller,  "  but 
more  a  satirist  than  a  historian,"  has  the  following  pasquils  on 
his  memory,  for  his  alleged  covetousness,  which  are  worthy  of 
notice,  as  that  writer  is  hostile  to  him, 

"  Here  lies  his  grace  in  cold  clay  clad, 
Who  died  for  want  of  what  he  had." 

And  as  the  primate  at  one  time  cancelled  his  first  mil,  the  fol- 
lowing distich  was  published : 

"  He  who  never  repented  of  doing  ill, 

Repented  that  once  he  had  made  a  good  will." 

Fuller,  in  treating  this  primate  as  a  great  statesman,  and  the 
grand  champion  of  church  discipline,  observes  farther,  "  No 
wonder  if  those  who  were  silenced  by  him  in  the  church  were 
loud  against  him  in  other  places.  David  speaketh  of  poison 
under  other  men's  lips.  The  Bishop  tasted  plentifully  thereof 


144  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

Abbot,  Laud's  violent  enemy,  succeeded  Bancroft 
in  the  primacy,  of  whom  more  particular  mention 
will  be  made  hereafter.  "  He  was  promoted  to 
Canterbury,"  says  Lord  Clarendon,  "  upon  the 
never  enough  lamented  death  of  Dr.  Bancroft,  that 
metropolitan  who  understood  the  church  excel- 

from  the  mouths  of  his  enemies,  till  at«iast  he  was  so  habituated 
to  poisons,  (as  Mithridates)  that  they  became  food  to  him. 
Once,  a  gentleman  coming  to  meet  him,  presented  him  with  a 
libel  which  he  found  posted  on  his  door  :  but  he,  nothing  moved 
thereat,  said,  "  Cast  it  beside  an  hundred  more  which  lie  here 
in  an  heap  in  my  chamber."  Other  two  anecdotes  I  may 
give,  the  first  of  which  shews  that  he  was  not  so  severe  as  the 
Puritans  aver.  A  clergyman,  who  was  on  the  point  of  being 
deprived,  declared  to  him  that  he  could  not  conform.  "  How 
will  you  live,"  asked  the  primate,  "  if  put  out  of  your  bene- 
fice ?"  The  clergyman  replied,  that  he  had  no  other  resource 
than  to  beg,  and  resign  himself  to  Providence.  "  You  will  not 
need  to  do  that,"  said  the  Archbishop ;  "  come  to  me,  and 
I  will  take  order  for  your  maintenance." — Some  courtiers, 
daring  Elizabeth's  reign,  indulging  in  gambling  above  their  in- 
comes, solaced  themselves  with  the  hope,  solvat  ecclesia,  the 
church  will  pay  all.  Bancroft,  then  Bishop  of  London,  being 
informed  of  this,  contrived  to  disappoint  them  of  some  of  the 
church-lands  which  the  queen  had  been  inclined  to  bestow  on 
them,  and  left  them  to  pay  for  their  folly  as  they  could  out  of 
their  own  purses. — It  is  said,  that  he  saved  the  lands  of  the 
bishopric  of  Durham  from  being  alienated  to  one  of  James's 
Scotch  favourites,  by  his  speedy  and  seasonable  interposition. — 
As  to  his  preferments,  when  he  was  promoted  to  LlandafF,  he 
used  to  call  that  bishopric  aff,  because  the  property  had  been 
lost ;  "  thence  he  was  translated  to  Exeter,  thence  to  Worcester, 
thence  to  Heaven." — See  Fuller,  book  x.  p.  56,  57.  Lans- 
downe  MSS.  vol.  xlix.  of  Bishop  Rennet's  Collections,  from 
1600—1620,  fol.  153.  155.  157. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  145 

lently,  and  had  almost  rescued  it  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Calvinist  party,  and  very  much  subdued  the 
unruly  spirit  of  the  Nonconformists  by  and  after  the 
Conference  at  Hampton  Court,  countenanced  men 
of  the  greatest  parts  in  learning,  and  disposed  the 
clergy  to  a  more  solid  course  of  study  than  that  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed ;  and,  if  he  had 
lived,  would  quickly  have  extinguished  all  that  in 
England  which  had  been  kindled  at  Geneva ;  or, 
if  he  had  been  succeeded  by  Bishop  Andrews,  Bi- 
shop Overall,  or  any  man  who  understood  and  loved 
the  Church,  that  infection  would  easily  have  been 
kept  out,  which  could  not  afterwards  be  so  easily 
expelled  V  In  a  word,  concerning  this  Primate,  his 
strictness  was  absolutely  necessary;  and  there  is 
little  doubt  that,  had  he  lived,  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
times  would  have  been  restrained.  And  we  know 
that  his  vigilance  and  activity  gave,  as  Collier  ex- 
presses it,  "anew  face  to  religion;"  the  services  of 
the  Church  were  performed  with  reverent  devotion, 
the  utmost  uniformity  prevailed  in  every  part,  the 
Common  Prayer  was  diligently  used  according  to 
the  constitution  of  the  Reformed  Church,  as  set  forth 
in  the  first  years  of  Elizabeth 2.  And  whatever  may 
be  said  of  him,  there  is  this  to  be  kept  in  remem- 
brance, that  his  traducers  are  those  whom  he  silenced 
for  their  contumacy,  and  who  took  that  ignoble 

1  Clarendon's  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,  Oxford  ed.  1721,  vol.  i. 
p.  188. 

3  Collier's  Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  687,  &c. 
VOL.  I.  L 


146 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1611. 


mode  of  retaliation,  by  vilifying  his  memory  with 
their  false  aspersions. 

This  inference  of  Lord  Clarendon  is  worthy  of 
particular  notice,  for  never  was  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  greater  peril  than  at  this  juncture.  Sur- 
rounded by  enemies  without,  and  attacked  by  traitors 
within,  every  thing  depended  on  the  disposition  of 
the  Metropolitan.  It  was  unfortunate  for  the  Church 
that  Abbot  succeeded ;  certain  it  is  that  the  Puritan 
faction  from  this  period  gained  a  complete  victory, 
and  during  his  primacy  arose  those  evils  which  were 
entailed  on  his  successor.  We  have  already  ob- 
served his  conduct  towards  Laud,  whom  he  pursued 
with  unrelenting  opposition,  raising  unfounded  ca- 
lumnies against  him,  and  taking  every  advantage  to 
blast  his  prospects  and  reputation.  He  had  indeed 
failed ;  still,  what  was  to  be  expected  from  a  Metro- 
politan who  had  always  signalised  himself  as  a  vio- 
lent Puritan  leader  ?  Was  it  not  evident,  that  pro- 
tection and  patronage  Would  be  awarded  to  all  who 
went  to  those  extremes  into  which  his  party  fell 
while  he  was  a  resident  in  the  University,  and 
which,  in  truth,  he  openly  declared,  by  the  share 
which  he  took  in  opposing  Laud's  election  to  the 
Presidency  of  St.  John's?  He  is  characterised  as 
being  "  a  sound  Protestant,  a  thorough  Calvinist, 
an  avowed  enemy  to  Popery,  and  even  suspected  of 
Puritanism l ;"  as  if  no  one  could  be  a  "  sound  Pro- 


Neal's  Hist,  of  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  93. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  147 

testant,"  and  "  an  avowed  enemy  to  Popery/*  who 
was  not  a  follower  of  Calvin,  and  inclined  to  the 
Puritan  extravagances.  Abbot  was  doubtless  a 
good  and  a  learned  man,  but  he  was  not  attached 
to  the  Church  of  England.  "  He  considered/'  says 
the  noble  author  already  quoted,  "  the  Christian 
religion  no  otherwise  than  as  it  abhorred  and  reviled 
Popery,  and  valued  those  men  most  who  did  that 
most  furiously.  He  enquired  but  little  after  the 
strict  observance  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  or 
conformity  to  the  Articles  or  Canons  established, 
and  did  not  think  so  ill  of  the  (Presbyterian)  disci- 
pline as  he  ought  to  have  done ;  but  if  men  pru- 
dently forbore  a  .public  reviling  at  the  hierarchy 
and  ecclesiastical  government,  they  were  secure 
from  any  inquisition  from  him,  and  were  equally 
preferred.  His  house  was  a  sanctuary  to  the  most 
eminent  of  the  factious  party,  and  he  licensed  their 
pernicious  writings  V 

The  advancement  of  Abbot  could  not  have  been 
beheld  by  Laud,  and  all  true  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  without  great  apprehensions.  Bancroft 
had  restrained  the  turbulence  of  the  Nonconformists; 
and  even  in  Scotland  the  minions  of  discontentment 
were  not  very  numerous.  But  that  spirit  was  only 
slumbering,  which  was  to  rise  with  increased  fury. 
Abbot,  in  fact,  was  not  well  instructed  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Church,  and  his  strong  attachment  to 
Calvinism  made  him  disregard  its  divine  authority. 

1  Clarendon,  ut  sup, 
L   2 


148 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1611. 


His  learning  was  extensive  and  profound,  yet  he  did 
not  direct  it  at  all  times  with  candour  in  a  fair  dis- 
/  cussion.  It  has  been  remarked  of  him,  that  he  re- 
ceived one  preferment  after  another  until  he  had 
reached  the  primacy,  before  he  thoroughly  under- 
stood the  duties  of  a  parish  priest ;  whereas,  his 
episcopal  cotemporaries  had  gone  through  all  the 
degrees  in  the  Church  before  they  had  been  pro- 
moted to  their  respective  Sees.  The  first  occasion 
of  his  advancement  was  at  the  period  of  his  journey 
into  Scotland,  in  1606  ;  for  from  this  period  must 
be  dated  his  extraordinary  elevation  from  the  Deanery 
of  Winchester  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  in  little 
more  than  three  yedrs.  On  the  death  of  his  first 
patron,  Thomas  Sackville,  Earl  of  Dorset,  he  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  appointed  chaplain  to  George 
Hume,  Earl  of  Dunbar,  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  one 
of  James*  favourites,  but  perhaps  the  wisest  and 
the  best  of  those  favourites  whom  the  monarch  se- 
lected from  his  native  kingdom.  The  object  of 
Abbot's  journey  was  to  establish  a  union  between  the . 
Churches  of  the  two  kingdoms,  in  which,  it  is  ad- 
mitted, he  acted  with  great  prudence  and  modera- 
tion \  It  was  while  he  was  in  Scotland  that  he 
drew  up  his  Narrative  of  the  trial  of  George  Sprot, 
for  his  concern  in  the  famous  Gowry  conspiracy, 

1  Calderwood,  fol.  1680,  p.  588,  589.  Heylin's  Hist,  of  the 
Presbyterians,  1672,  p.  383.  Life  of  Laud,  p.  64.  Speed's 
History  of  Great  Britain,  book  x.  fol.  1227.  Petrie's  Compen- 
dious History  of  the  Catholic  Church,  &c.  folio.  Hague,  1662, 
vol.  iii.  p.  554.  »  4  jr 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  U9 

at  whose  trial  Abbot  was  present1.  His  remarks 
on  that  occasion  secured  for  him  the  favour  of 
James,  and,  as  that  prince  knew  well  the  turbu- 
lence and  fanaticism  of  the  Scots  at  that  period,  he 
conceived  a  very  high  opinion  of  Abbot's  genius 
and  ability.  Having  been  further  consulted  by 
James  on  a  political  mediation  between  the  crown 
of  Spain  and  the  States  of  Holland 2,  he  received 
on  that  occasion  a  singularly  confidential  letter 
from  the  monarch 3.  In  1609,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  Bishopric  of  Lichfield,  in  1610,  to  that  of  Lon- 
don, and  in  1611,  on  the  death  of  Bancroft,  he 
was  removed  to  the  primacy  of  Canterbury ;  thus, 
before  the  age  of  fifty  years,  he  was  entrusted  with 
the  government  of  the  Church, — promotions,  per- 

1  The  Examinations,  Arraignment,  and  Conviction  of  Geo. 
Sprot,  Notary  at  Ayemouth,  together  with  his  constant  and  ex- 
traordinary behaviour  at  his  death,  in  Edinburgh,  Aug.   12, 
1600.     Written  and  set  forth  by  Sir  William  Hart,  Knight, 
Lord  Justice  of  Scotland,  whereby  appeareth  the  treasonable 
device  betwixt  John  Earl  of  Gowry,  and  Robert  Logan  of 
Restalrig,  (commonly  called  Lesterig,)  plotted  by  them  for  the 
cruel  murthering  of  our  most  gracious  Sovereign.    Before  which 
treatise  is  prefixed  also  a  Preface,  written  by  Geo.  Abbot,  Doc- 
tor in  Divinity,  and  Dean  of  Winchester,  who  was  present  at 
the  said  Sprot's  execution.    London,  printed  by  M.  Bradwood, 
for  William  Apsley,  1608,  4to.  pp.  60.;   the  Preface  extends 
to  thirty-eight  pages. 

2  Wilson's  King  James,  p.  37.  Camden's  Annals,  ad  an.  1609. 
Sanderson,  561. 

3  Sherlock's  (Master  of  the  Temple)  Vindication,  &c.  in  an- 
swer to  Dr.  Sherlock,  p.  4.     New  Observator,  vol.  iii.  No.  12. 


150  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

haps,  unexampled  since  the  era  of  the  Reforma- 
tion l. 

The  bishops  about  the  court  had  desired  the  pro- 
motion of  the  celebrated  Launcelot  Andrews,  then 
Bishop  of  Ely2,  and  they  perhaps  calculated  with 
too  much  security  upon  the  king's  known  attach- 
ment to  that  distinguished  man,  without  making 
much  exertion.  "  The  world?"  we  are  informed, 
"  wanted  learning  to  know  how  learned  he  was,  so 
skilled  in  all  (especially  oriental)  languages,  that 
some  conceived  he  might,  if  then  living,  almost 
have  served  as  an  interpreter  general  in  the  confu- 
sion of  tongues 3."  His  integrity,  uprightness,  and 
determined  adherence  to  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  were  also  well  known,  though  his  memory 
has  not  escaped  the  insolent  attacks  of  the  Puritan 
faction4.  But  the  King's  favour  for  Abbot  was 
either  too  recent,  or  the  Earl  of  Dunbar's  interest 
succeeded  in  securing  his  nomination. 

A  certain  author  has  said  of  this  primate,  that 
"  honest  Abbot  could  not  flatter 6."  But  Abbot  was 
not  wanting  in  flattery  towards  his  royal  master, 
as  the  following  passage,  extracted  from  the  pamph- 
let already  referred  to,  testifies,  and  which  it  does 

'.; .  f. ' ' . , 

1  Regist.  Bancroft,  fol.  p.  96.     Godwin,  de  Praesul.  Ang.  4to, 
London,  1616,  p.  225.     Wood's  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  i.  col.  735. 

2  Heylin's  Hist,  of  Presbyterians,  p.  383. 

3  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  xi.  p.  126. 

4  Prynne's  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  121. 

f  Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,  vol.  i.  p.  1 74. 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  151 

not  appear  that  Walpole  had  perused.  He  speaks 
of  James,  (and  he  well  knew  the  monarch's  failing,) 
as  one  "  whose  life  hath  been  so  immaculate  and 
unspotted  in  the  world,  so  free  from  all  touch  of 
viciousness  and  staining  imputations,  that  even 
malice  itself,  which  leaveth  nothing  unsearched, 
could  never  find  true  blemish  in  it,  nor  cast  proba- 
ble aspersions  on  it.  Zealous  as  David,  learned 
and  wise,  the  Solomon  of  our  age ;  religious  as 
Josias,  careful  of  spreading  Christ's  faith  as  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  just  as  Moses,  undefiled  in  all 
his  ways  as  a  Jehoshaphat  or  Hezekiah,  full  of 
clemency  as  another  Theodorus."  We  are  not  in- 
formed how  those  opinions  were  relished  by  the 
Puritans,  but  Abbot's  inclination  to  their  cause 
could  make  those  pretended  self-denying  and  godly 
men  overlook  many  things.  They  would  not,  cer- 
tainly, be  altogether  pleased  at  seeing  the  "  doc- 
trinal Papist"  extolled  in  such  language  as  the  pre- 
ceding, yet  not  one  of  them  has  commented  on  the 
sentiments  of  Abbot,  although,  had  they  been  the 
declarations  of  Laud,  or  of  any  other  who  had 
opposed  their  Genevan  notions,  they  would  not 
have  passed  unnoticed.  Abbot,  however,  with  all 
his  Puritanism,  was  a  courtier,  and  he  was  not  un- 
concerned about  promotion  in  the  Church,  not- 
withstanding his  attachment  to  Nonconformity  and 
Calvinism.  Yet,  it  must  be  recorded  of  him,  that 
he  was  not  remarkably  ambitious,  and  his  modera- 
tion, though  ill-directed,  ought  at  least  to  secure 
for  him  respect,  in  connexion  with  his  learning. 


152  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1611. 

The  Puritan  historian  has  a  remark,  however,  on 
this  occasion,  which  ought  not  to  be  omitted.     He 
informs  us,  that  had  Abbot's  counsels  for  modera- 
tion been  followed,  the  Church  would  have  been 
saved  from  the  ruin  which  it  brought  on  itself. 
But  the  Church,  as  Neal  admits,  did  not  ruin  itself, 
nor  would  it  have  fallen,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
efforts  of  those  very  men,  or  their  successors,  whom 
Abbot  patronized,  and  Laud  opposed.  If  the  Church 
was  severe,  with  what  factions  was  it  not  surround- 
ed, and  how  many  enemies  could  it  not  reckon  who 
would  have  rejoiced  in  its  utter  annihilation  ?    Nor 
would  the  Church  have  been  severe,  for  an  inclina- 
tion to  persecution,  at  least,  is  no  feature  of  the 
Church   of  England,  had  it  not  been  virulently 
attacked  by  a  fanatical  faction,  who   continually 
annoyed  its  governors  by  declamations  about  refor- 
mation, according  to  their  tender  consciences,  Cal- 
vinistic  dogmas  about  election  and  predestination, 
and  a  thousand  visionary  subtleties,  which  they  fan- 
cied to  be  the  certain  indications  of  spirituality  and 
evangelism  ;  and  not  satisfied  with  expressing  their 
own  dissatisfaction,  its  opponents  were  zealous  in 
creating  a  partizanship,  and  in  exciting  the  turbu- 
lent spirit  of  the  people.     Conceiving  every  thing 
to  savour  of  Popery  which  was  not  Calvinistic,  they 
were  not  sparing  in  their  invectives  against  all  who 
really  could  not  perceive,  either  by  internal  evidence, 
or  by  any  process  of  reasoning,  the  infallible  in- 
spiration of  Calvin's  opinions  and  writings.     The 
truth,  however,  is,  that  the  Church  did  not  fall 

7 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  153 

until  it  was  undermined  by  a  faction  whom  it  had 
long  cherished  as  vipers  in  its  bosom.  Had  a  pre- 
late succeeded  Bancroft  in  that  age  of  polemical 
disputation  who  would  have  pursued  his  judicious 
measures,  who  can  tell  but,  in  all  human  probability, 
the  dreadful  catastrophes  of  the  next  reign  might 
have  been  avoided  ?  The  Church  had  sufficient 
power  to  restrain  extravagances,  but  it  was  a  task 
entailed  upon  Abbot's  successor  in  the  primacy, 
though  by  no  means  too  much  for  his  vigorous 
mind,  to  combat  with  the  wild  and  irregular  notions 
of  men  who  had  been  thrust  into  benefices  by  Abbot, 
and  had  been  strengthening  themselves  during  his 
life-time,  gaining  the  people,  and  aiming  at  popu- 
larity. For  all  men,  as  we  are  informed  by  Lord 
Clarendon,  were  promoted  equally  by  Abbot,  if 
they  were  Calvinists,  and  inclined  to  Puritanism  : 
and  thus  it  was  that  James,  notwithstanding  his 
antipathy  to  the  malcontents,  unconsciously  laid  the 
foundation  of  future  evils  in  the  Church,  by  the 
promotion  of  Abbot,  however  excellent  the  new 
archbishop  was  in  himself  as  an  ecclesiastic,  apart 
fromhis  official  duties,  and  the  patronage  he  awarded 
to  disappointed  ambition. 

The  new  primate  was  Laud's  inveterate  enemy. 
The  breach  between  them  was  now  wider ;  for  Laud 
was  not  ignorant  of  his  conduct  during  his  election 
as  the  President  of  St.  John's.  He  could  not  in- 
deed feel  otherwise  than  mortified  that  he  had  been 
traduced  as  a  Papist,  and  that  the  scandal  had 


154  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1614. 

reached  the  ears  of  the  king,  by  the  very  man  who 
had  been  its  original  mover. 

Laud,  now  a  chaplain  of  the  court,  naturally  ex- 
pected some  other  preferment,  especially  when  he 
saw  the  good  fortune  of  his  adversary ;  and  he 
lingered  about  the  court  for  three  years  in  this 
expectation.  Abbot's  influence,  however,  retarded 
his  advancement ;  for  he  was  no  farther  noticed, 
and  he  had  adopted  the  resolution  of  retiring  from 
the  court,  and  residing  altogether  at  his  College. 
But  he  sought  his  constant  friend,  Bishop  Neile, 
to  whom  he  communicated  his  resolution.  That 
excellent  prelate  had  been  an  attentive  observer  of 
the  state  of  affairs,  and  was  well  aware  to  whom 
Laud  was  indebted  for  the  neglect  he  experienced ; 
nevertheless,  he  advised  him  to  wait  another  year, 
before  he  took  this  decisive  step.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  Bishop,  having  bestowed  on  him  the  pre- 
bendary of  Bugden,  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  on 
December  1,  1615,  presented  him  to  the  arch- 
deaconry of  Huntingdon.  The  Lord  Chancellor 
Ellesmere  died  in  1616,  and  Laud  saw  the  wisdom 
of  following  the  advice  of  Bishop  Neile.  James, 
disregarding  the  underhand  representations  of  Ab- 
bot's party,  resolved  to  bestow  some  marks  of  fa- 
vour on  his  hitherto  neglected  chaplain,  and,  ac- 
cordingly, he  bestowed  on  him  the  Deanery  of 
Gloucester  then  vacant, — a  dignity,  not  of  great 
value,  but  which  was  of  consequence  as  establishing 
his  reputation. 


1614.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  155 

Here,  however,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  farther 
to  observe  the  violent  antipathy  entertained  against 
Laud  by  the  Puritans,  to  notice  their  conduct  a 
little  before  this  period.  Dr.  Holland,  Rector  of 
Exeter  College,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity, 
having  died  in  the  year  1612,  Dr.  Robert  Abbot, 
brother  to  the  archbishop,  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor. He  was  a  man  much  more  amiable  than 
his  brother,  and  so  modest,  that  he  would  not  even 
accept  the  theological  chair,  until  his  brother  had 
procured  the  royal  mandate.  Nor  was  he  a  violent 
predestinarian,  or  firm  believer  in  the  Calvinistic 
tenets,  at  least  he  was  more  moderate  than  his  two 
predecessors  in  that  chair,  for  he  openly  expressed 
his  belief  in  sublapsarianism.  He  was  a  learned 
man,  and  an  eloquent  preacher,  but  of  course 
strongly  affected  towards  the  Puritans,  as  appears 
from  some  of  his  works,  particularly  his  Sermon  on 
the  110th  Psalm,  entitled  "  The  Exaltation  of  the 
Kingdom  and  Priesthood  of  Christ,"  dedicated  to 
Bishop  Babington,  published  at  London,  1601 ; 
his  "  Antichristi  Demonstratio,  contra  fabulas  pon- 
tificias,  ineptam  Belarmini,"  &c.,  dedicated  to  King 
James,  1603  ;  and  his  "  Treatise  against  Bishops!' 
Dr.  Abbot's  moderate  Calvinism,  however,  excited 
against  him  the  wrath  of  a  host  of  predestinarians, 
who,  liking  nothing  which  savoured  of  moderation, 
were  sturdy  champions  for  election  and  reproba- 
tion. Yet,  being  a  dependent  on  his  brother,  or, 
at  least,  guided  very  much  by  his  advice,  and  also 
favourable  to  Puritanism,  he  was  of  that  party 


156  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1614. 

who  violently  opposed  Laud,  and  now,  when  he 
was  resident  in  the  University,  he  thought  nothing 
would  be  more  pleasing  to  the  Calvinistic  faction, 
than  to  give  a  proof  of  his  opposition. 

On  Shrove  Sunday,  1614,  Laud  preached  a  ser- 
mon before  the  University,  in  which  he  touched  on 
some  points,  about  which  the  Puritans,  as  usual, 
took  alarm.  The  cry  had  been  set  up  against 
Arminianism,  by  men,  too,  who  seemingly  would 
not,  or  could  not,  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
term,  and  Laud's  opinions  were  held  as  either  fa- 
vouring that  system,  or  as  completely  Popish ;  for 
in  this  last  position,  the  Puritans  always  took  re- 
fuge. They  either  imagined,  or  affected  to  ima- 
gine, that  Popery  and  Arminianism  were  synony- 
mous, whereas  no  two  systems  are  more  at  variance  ; 
and,  besides,  among  the  different  orders  of  the 
Romish  Church,  there  were  many  who  were  as 
violent  predestinarians  as  themselves.  The  Church 
of  Rome,  before  the  Reformation,  was  thoroughly 
Calvinistic  l,  in  particular  the  Franciscans,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  tlie  Dominicans.  Laud,  in 
this  sermon,  reflected  on  the  Presbyterians  with 
some  severity,  in  which  he  was  completely  justified 
on  account  of  their  late  proceedings.  Dr.  Abbot 
soon  got  notice  of  Laud's  sermon,  at  which  he  felt 
no  small  indignation,  and  he  resolved  to  embrace 
the  first  opportunity  of  exposing  his  opinions  to 
censure.  Accordingly,  being  Vice-chancellor  that 

1  Dean  Tucker's  Letters  to  Dr.  Kippis,  p.  81,  &c. 


1614.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  157 

year,  he  preached  a  sermon  in  St.  Peter's  Church 
on  Easter-day,  in  which  he  made  allusions  to  Laud, 
which  were  at  once  understood.  Laud,  then  Pre- 
sident of  St.  John's,  was  not  present  on  this  occa- 
sion, but  he  was  persuaded  by  some  of  his  friends 
to  attend  at  St.  Mary's  Church  on  the  following 
Sunday,  when  the  sermon,  according  to  ancient 
custom,  was  again  to  be  delivered.  He  complied, 
and  heard  Dr.  Abbot  abuse  him  for  nearly  an  hour 
from  the  pulpit,  and  in  such  an  undisguised  man- 
ner, that  he  was  actually  pointed  at  by  the  audi- 
tors. 

The  particular  passage  which  Laud  objected  to 
was  the  following — "  Some,"  said  Dr.  Abbot,  "  are 
partly  Romish,  partly  English,  as  occasion  serves 
them,  that  a  man  might  say  unto  them,  noster  cs,  an 
adversariorum?  who,  under  pretence  of  truth,  and 
preaching  against  the  Puritans,  strike  at  the  heart 
and  root  of  the  religion  now  established  among  us. 
They  cannot  plead  that  they  are  accounted  Papists 
because  they  speak  against  the  Puritans,  but,  be- 
cause, being  indeed  Papists,  they  speak  nothing 
against  them.  If  they  do  at  any  time  speak  against 
the  Papists,  they  do  but  beat  a  little  about  the  bush, 
and  that  but  softly  too,  for  fear  of  waking  and  dis- 
quieting the  birds  that  are  in  it :  they  speak  nothing 
but  that  wherein  one  Papist  will  speak  against  an- 
other, as  against  equivocation,  the  Pope's  temporal 
power,  and  the  like,  and,  perhaps,  some  of  their 
blasphemous  speeches :  but  in  the  points  of  free- 
will, justification,  concupiscence  being  a  sin  after 


158  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1614. 

baptism,  inherent  righteousness,  and  certainty  of 
salvation,  the  Papists  beyond  the  seas  can  say  they 
are  wholly  theirs ;  and  the  Recusants  at  home  make 
their  boast  of  them.  In  all  things  they  keep  them- 
selves so  near  the  brink,  that  upon  occasion  they 
may  step  over  to  them.  Now,  for  this  speech,  that 
the  Presbyterians  are  as  bad  as  the  Papists,  there  is 
a  sting  in  the  speech,  which  I  wish  had  been  left 
out,  for  there  are  many  churches  beyond  the  seas, 
which  contend  for  the  religion  established  among 
us,  and  yet  have  approved  and  admitted  Presby- 
tery." After  defending  Presbytery  for  a  considera- 
ble time,  he  then  exclaimed,  "  Might  not  Christ 
say,  What  art  thou  ?  Romish  or  English  ?  Papist  or 
Protestant  ?  Or,  what  art  thou  ?  a  mongrel  com- 
pound of  both;  a  Protestant  by  ordination,  a  Papist 
in  point  of  free-will,  inherent  righteousness,  and 
the  like.  A  Protestant  in  receiving  the  Sacrament, 
a  Papist  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacrament.  What  ? 
Do  you  think  there  are  two  heavens  ?  If  there  be, 
get  you  to  the  other,  and  place  yourselves  there, 
for  unto  this  where  I  am  ye  shall  not  come  V 

This  is  a  specimen  of  the  singular  eloquence  of 
Dr.  Abbot ;  and  because  Laud  did  not  hold  the  opi- 
nions of  St.  Augustine  and  Calvin  about  free-will, 
inherent  righteousness,  the  sacraments,  and  the  po- 
lity of  the  Church,  he  was  condemned  from  the 
pulpit  of  St.  Mary's  as  a  Papist.  Laud  immediately 
wrote  to  Bishop  Neile,  to  receive  his  advice,  as  he 

1  Heylin,  p.  61,  62.     Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  62. 


1614.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  159 

felt  himself  almost  called  upon  to  answer  these  scur- 
rilous and  false  charges.  "  I  came  time  enough/' 
says  Laud  to  that  prelate,  "  to  be  at  the  rehearsal 
of  this  sermon,  upon  much  persuasion,  where  I  was 
fain  to  sit  patiently,  and  hear  myself  abused  almost 
an  hour  together,  being  pointed  at  as  I  sat.  For 
this  present  abuse  I  would  have  fain  taken  no  notice 
of  it,  but  that  the  whole  University  did  apply  it  to 
me ;  and  my  own  friends  tell  me  I  shall  sink  my 
credit,  if  I  answer  not  Dr.  Abbot  in  his  own.  Ne- 
vertheless, in  a  business  of  this  kind,  I  will  not  be 
swayed  from  a  patient  course  ;  only  I  desire"  your 
Lordship  to  vouchsafe  me  a  direction  what  to  do." 
Bishop  Neile,  however,  it  would  appear,  advised 
him  not  to  excite  a  quarrel,  for  the  matter  went  no 
farther ;  and  as  Abbot  was  soon  afterwards  pro- 
moted to  the  bishopric  of  Salisbury,  through  his 
brother's  influence,  though  not  without  considera- 
ble opposition,  Laud  did  not  think  it  prudent  to 
engage  in  a  dispute  with  one  who  was  now  advanced 
to  so  high  a  station  in  the  Church.  Abbot  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  divinity  chair  by  the  famous  Dr.  John 
Pride aux,  Rector  of  Exeter  College,  "  who  proved," 
says  Heylin,  "  a  violent  assertor  of  all  the  Calvinian 
rigours,  in  the  matter  of  predestination,  and  the 
points  depending  thereupon,  as  appears  by  his  first 
lecture,  De  Absolut o  Decreto,  and  the  rest  which 
followed." 

After  Laud's  promotion  to  the  Deanery  of  Glou- 
cester, he  resigned  his  Rectory  of  West  Tilbury,  in 
Essex.  When  he  received  the  appointment  from 


160  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1614. 

James,  he  was  commanded  to  reform  and  set  in 
order  what  was  necessary  in  that  cathedral,  for  no 
church  in  England  was  so  ill  governed.  Dr.  Miles 
Smith,  for  his  care  in  the  part  assigned  him  in  the 
translation  of  the  Bible,  had  been  advanced  to  that 
see.  He  was  a  rigid  Calvinist,  and  greatly  inclined 
towards  the  Puritans,  on  which  account  the  cathe- 
dral, and  indeed  many  of  the  churches  in  the  dio- 
cese, were  approximated  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
appearance'  of  conventicles.  Laud,  instructed  by 
the  king,  proceeded  to  Gloucester,  and  found  the 
cathedral  in  a  state  of  decay.  He  immediately 
called  a  chapter  of  the  prebends,  in  which  two  acts 
were  passed,  the  one  ordering  a  speedy  repair  of  the 
church,  the  other  ordering  the  removal  of  the  com- 
munion table  to  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  and  re- 
commending a  becoming  reverence  and  devotional 
feeling  to  th$  clergy  and  officers  of  the  cathedral 
when  they  entered,  as  had  been  always  the  practice 
of  true  worshippers,  and  not  to  follow  the  fashion 
of  the  Puritans,  who  were  accustomed,  like  their 
brethren  in  Scotland,  to  treat  the  churches  with  the 
utmost  contempt,  and  to  exult  in  doing  so,  fre- 
quently sitting  with  their  hats  on  during  divine 
service,  and  rushing  in  and  out  of  the  church  in 
mobs,  without  any  appearance  of  reverence  for  the 
great  Being  in  whose  more  immediate  presence 
they  had  been,  thus  making  an  improvement  on  the 
passage  of  Scripture,  that  "  God  is  not  confined  to 
temples  made  with  hands."  Those  proceedings 
were  beheld  with  great  indignation  by  the  bishop, 


1611.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  161 

who  openly  expressed  his  indignation ;  but  he  found 
the  new  Dean  by  no  means  inclined  to  gratify  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  sectarians  in  the  city  of  Glouces- 
ter. So  enraged,  indeed,  was  Dr.  Smith,  that  he 
declared,  unless  those  acts  were  revoked,  he  would 
never  again  enter  the  cathedral  while  he  lived ;  and 
he  adhered  to  his  resolution.  One  of  his  chaplains, 
however,  took  up  the  affair,  and  endeavoured  to 
excite,  through  means  of  seditious  letters,  a  tumult 
in  the  city.  The  Puritans  "were  grown  multitu- 
dinous," says  Heylin,  "  by  reason  of  the  short  stay 
which  the  Dean  and  Prebendaries  had  made  in  the 
city,  the  dull  connivance  of  their  Bishop,  and  the 
remiss  government  of  the  Metropolitan,  so  that  it 
seemed  both  safe  and  easy  to  some  of  the  rabble  to 
make  an  outcry  in  all  places  that  Popery  was  in- 
troduced— that  the  transforming  of  the  communion 
table  into  an  altar,  with  the  worship  and  obeisance 
rendered  to  it,  were  popish  superstitions,  and  the 
like."  The  civil  authorities  interposed,  and  after 
committing  some  persons  to  prison,  and  threaten- 
ing others  for  their  outrageous  disorders,  they  sent 
notice  to  Laud,  who  immediately  wrote  to  the 
Bishop  of  Gloucester,  explaining  his  conduct,  and 
maintaining  that  he  had  done  nothing  contrary  to 
the  established  practice  of  the  primitive  church,  and 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  England l. 

Having  thus  discharged  his  duty  at  Gloucester, 

1  Heylin's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  63—66. 
VOL.  I.  M 


. 
162  LIFE  AND  TIMES  £1616. 

Laud  returned  to  court.  In  the  mean  time,  his 
treatment  from  Dr.  Abbot  had  been  represented  to 
James  by  Bishop  Neile,  at  which  the  King  ex- 
pressed considerable  indignation.  A  representation 
was  also  given  of  the  danger  which  might  in  future 
result  to  the  Church,  were  such  proceedings  to  pass 
unnoticed,  more  especially  as  the  Calvinists  at  Oxford 
were  diligently  training  numbers  of  the  students  to 
succeed  them  in  the  promulgation  of  their  opi- 
nions. After  mature  deliberation,  Laud  and  the 
clergy  about  the  court  procured  directions  for  the 
better  government  of  the  University,  which  were 
dispatched,  on  the  18th  of  January,  1616,  to  the 
Vice-chancellor  and  the  Heads  of  Colleges.  Those 
directions,  which  ought  to  have  been  issued  some 
years  sooner,  contain  the  first  official  disapprobation 
of  the  tenets  of  the  Calvinists  and  supralapsarians, 
as  will  be  seen  from  their  nature.  They  are  to  the 
following  effect  :— 

"  1.  That  it  is  his  Majesty's  pleasure,  that  all  who 
^take  any  degree  in  schools,  subscribe  the  three  arti- 
cles in  the  thirty-sixth  Canon. 

"  2.  That  no  preachers  be  allowed  to  preach  in 
the  town,  but  such  as  are  every  way  conformable  by 
subscription,  and  every  other  way. 

"  3.  That  all  students  do  resort  to  the  sermons 
at  St.  Mary's,  and  be  restrained  from  going  to  any 
other  church  in  the  time  of  the  sermons  at  St. 
Mary's  ;  and  that  provision  be  made,  that  the  ser- 
mons in  St.  Mary's  be  diligently  made  and  per- 
formed both  before  and  after  noon. 
7 


1616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  163 

"  4.  That  the  ordinary  Divinity  Act  be  constantly 
kept,  with  three  replicants. 

"  5.  That  there  be  a  greater  restraint  of  scholars 
haunting  town-houses,  especially  in  the  night. 

"  6.  That  all  scholars,  both  at  the  chapels  and  at 
the  schools,  keep  their  scholastic  habits. 

"  7.  That  young  students  in  divinity  be  directed 
to  study  such  books  as  are  most  agreeable  to  the 
Church  of  England  in  doctrine  and  discipline,  and 
excited  to  bestow  their  time  on  the  Fathers  and 
Councils,  schoolmen,  histories,  and  controversies, 
and  not  to  insist  too  long  upon  compendiums  and 
abbreviatures,  making  them  the  grounds  of  their 
study  in  divinity. 

"  8.  That  no  man,  either  in  pulpit  or  schools,  be 
suffered  to  maintain  dogmatically  any  point  of  doc- 
trine that  is  not  allowed  by  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. 

"  9.  That  the  Vice-chancellor,  and  the  two  Pro- 
fessors, or  two  Heads  of  Houses,  do,  at  such  times 
as  his  Majesty  resorts  into  those  parts,  wait  upon  his 
Majesty,  and  give  his  Majesty  a  just  account  how 
these  his  Majesty's  instructions  are  observed. 

"10.  Let  no  man  presume,  of  what  condition  or 
degree  soever,  not  to  yield  his  obedience  to  these  his 
Majesty's  directions,  lest  he  incur  such  censures  as 
the  statutes  of  this  University  may  justly  inflict  upon 
such  transgressors." 

These  directions,  evidently  levelled  against  the 
Puritans,  are,  it  must  be  conceded,  not  altogether 
justifiable,  (although  the  last  is  indeed  a  qualifica- 

M2 


164 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1616. 


tion,)  inasmuch  as  they  deprived  the  University  of 
its  independence,  and  subjected  it  completely  to  the 
control  of  the  king.  But  the  state  of  the  times  ren- 
dered such  instructions  necessary;  and  the  conster- 
nation of  the  Puritan  faction,  when  they  were  made 
known  at  Oxford,  is  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
monarch  and  his  advisers,  in  thus  placing  a  timely 
restraint  on  the  progress  of  sectarian  partisanship 
and  enthusiasm. 


i}flj>    (10    OffLii    MI 


i 


1616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  165 


CHAPTER  V 

1616—1619. 

Remarks  on  the  state  of  Scotland — James  resolves  to  visit  that 
kingdom — Remarkable  violence  of  the  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters— Proposal  for  a  union  between  Scotland  and  England 
defeated — Consecration  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  at  Westmin- 
ster— Departure  of  James — His  arrival  in  Scotland — Laud 
accompanies  him — The  Scottish  Parliament — The  Perth  Ar- 
ticles— General  Assembly — Ratification  of  the  Perth  Articles 
— Return  of  James  to  England — Laud  arrives  at  Oxford — 
t  Is  inducted  into  the  Rectory  of  Ibstock — Death  of  Dr.  Robert 
Abbot,  Bishop  of  Salisbury. 

THIS  year  King  James  resolved  to  undertake  a 
journey  into  his  native  kingdom,  which  he  had  not 
visited  since  his  accession  to  the  English  crown. 
He  had  indeed  promised,  in  his  farewell  address 
delivered  in  the  High  Church  of  Edinburgh,  that 
he  would  visit  his  ancient  people  every  third  year, 
and  that,  as  his  good  fortune  had  now  made  him 
more  powerful,  he  was  more  able,  and  he  would 
be  more  inclined,  to  attend  to  their  interests,  and 
to  consult  their  welfare.  The  tears  which  were 
shed,  however,  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Scottish 
metropolis,  when  they  beheld  the  representative  of 
their  ancient  sovereigns  finally  departing  from 
among  them,  depriving  them  of  the  gaudy  splen- 
dour of  a  court,  to  a  kingdom  which  they  not  only 


166  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1616. 

considered  foreign,  but  also  hostile, — where,  in 
all  probability,  their  own  barren  and  uncultivated 
country  would  be  speedily  forgotten  amidst  English 
splendour  and  the  luxuriance  of  the  English  plains, 
were  those  of  deep  regret,  as  resulting  from  their 
attachment  to  the  House  of  Stuart,  and  from  their 
veneration  to  their  sovereign,  who,  notwithstand- 
ing all  their  turbulence  and  rudeness,  had  conti- 
nually resided  amongst  them.  The  hatred  and  strife 
which  had  been  long  cherished  against  their  more 
powerful  southern  neighbours  were  not  yet  for- 
gotten :  they  recollected  the  fearful  inroads  which 
the  English  armies  had  made  into  their  country, 
and  the  marks  of  devastation  which  they  had  left 
behind.  The  fatal  and  melancholy  disaster  of 
Flodden  was  within  the  memory  of  their  parents : 
and  little  more  than  half  a  century  had  elapsed 
since  the  surrender  at  Solway,  and  their  complete 
defeat  at  Pinkey,  by  the  Marquis  of  Hertford. 
Numerous  minor  engagements,  especially  on  the 
Borders,  had  farther  tended  to  increase  the  mutual 
exasperation :  the  English  looked  on  them  with 
contempt,  they  on  the  English  with  hatred:  the 
policy  of  Elizabeth,  her  persecution  of  Mary,  and 
the  subserviency  of  the  Regent  Moray,  had  com- 
pleted their  subjection  to  the  English  influence, 
while  the  Regents  who  succeeded  him  were  afraid 
to  displease  a  neighbour  so  powerful  and  so  danger- 
ous. Not  calculating  on  the  advantages  which  must 
ensue  from  a  union  with  a  more  wealthy  neigh- 
bour, they  imagined  that  they  beheld  the  independ- 


1616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  167 

ence  of  their  country,  for  which  their  fathers  had  so 
nobly  and  so  successfully  fought  at  Bannockburn, 
and  which,  during  three  centuries  afterwards,  they 
had  guarded  with  vigilance  and  determination,  at 
once  sacrificed  in  a  manner  inglorious  to  their  former 
renown  in  arms ;  not  decided  by  the  sword,  but 
controled  by  a  destiny  inevitable. 

Yet  the  reformation  from  Popery  had  engrossed 
much  of  their  attention.  The  Roman  Catholics 
were  still  a  numerous  and  powerful  party,  headed 
by  many  of  the  northern  chiefs ;  and  religious  dis- 
putes characterized  the  age  as  one  of  strife,  tur- 
bulence, and  sedition  ;  giving  sufficient  indications 
of  the  approaching  reign  of  violence  and  religious 
enthusiasm.  The  departure  of  James  was  for- 
gotten amidst  theological  contentions :  the  disci- 
ples of  Geneva  had  succeeded  in  disseminating  the 
Presbyterian  notions  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Lowland  counties,  particularly  the  western  dis- 
tricts ;  and  had  taught  the  people  to  behold  their 
sovereign  as  one  who  temporized  with  circum- 
stances, and  was  inclined  to  impose  on  them  a 
Church  and  a  ritual  which  they  conceived  little 
better  than  Popish.  They  forgot  that  the  ancient 
constitution  of  their  Church,  before  it  was  subject 
to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,,  had  been  thoroughly  Epis- 
copal J,  and  their  fiery  leaders  failed  not  to  foment 

1  Bishop  Lloyd's  History  of  the  Church,  as  it  was  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  when  they  first  received  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion. Bishop  Stillingfleet's  Origines  Brittanicae,  London,  fol. 
1685.  Goodall's  Essay  on  the  Culdees,  apud  Bishop  Keith. 


168  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1616. 

the  excitement  of  feeling  by  their  partial  and  pre- 
judiced representations.  Accordingly,  the  measures 
of  James  in  Scotland  had  been  extremely  unpo- 
pular; the  Scots  charged  him  with  listening  to 
men  who  knew  nothing  of  their  country,  and  who 
judged  of  its  inhabitants  from  themselves;  and 
they  had  invariably  displayed  that  determined  op- 
position, which  no  arguments  or  concessions  of  the 
monarch  could  induce  them  to  forego. 

In  the  year  1604,  a  political  union  of  the  two 
kingdoms  had  been  proposed  by  James  to  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament,  and  Lord  Chancellor  Ellesmere 
procured  with  difficulty  the  nomination  of  forty-five 
commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Scots1.  On  the 
llth  of  July,  in  that  year,  the  Scottish  Parliament 
assembled  at  Perth,  who,  when  the  measure  was 
proposed,  heard  it  with  alarm  and  apprehension. 
An  intimation,  however,  was  conveyed  to  the  nobi- 
lity from  James,  that  a  speedy  compliance  could 
alone  avert  his  displeasure,  and,  unable  to  contend 
with  their  sovereign,  they  yielded  with  reluctance. 
Thirty-six  commissioners  were  appointed  to  meet 
those  of  England.  But  numerous  obstacles  caused 
the  intended  union  to  be  postponed,  and  afterwards 
to  be  finally  abandoned 2. 

Although  the  commissioners  assembled  at  West- 
minster had  abandoned  the  measure  as  imprac- 

1  King  James's  Works,  p.  159. 

2  MSS.  State  Papers'in  the  Advoc.  Lib.  Edin.    Spottiswoode, 
History,  p.  318.    Journals  of  the  Commons,  vol.  i.  p.  318.  Parl. 
17.  James  VI. 


•J616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  169 

ticable,  it  was  still  cherished  in  secret  by  James. 
For  this  purpose,  his  first  intentions  were  to  effect 
an  uniformity  of  religion — a  union  of  the  two 
churches.  James,  who  was  a  zealous  Episcopalian, 
was  exasperated  against  the  Presbyterians  on  ac- 
count of  their  intolerant  spirit ;  they  attempted  to 
justify  all  their  excesses  by  examples  from  the  Old 
Testament,  and  thence  they  inculcated  rigidly  on 
their  followers  "  to  go  and  do  likewise."  But  not 
the  less  did  he  recollect  their  bitter  animosity  and 
hatred  towards  his  mother — how  they  had  defended 
the  murder  of  the  most  beautiful  princess  in  Chris- 
tendom, how  they  had  traduced  her  memory,  and 
personally  insulted  himself1.  The  revival  of  Epis- 

1  On  one  occasion,  James,  before  the  murder  of  his  mother, 
commanded  her  to  be  prayed  for  in  all  religious  assemblies, 
and  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  on  which  Adamson, 
Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  was  to  preach.  But  the  Pres- 
byterian ministers,  on  the  day  appointed,  placed  a  miserable 
young  fanatic  named  John  Couper,  in  the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles' 
Church,  where  the  service  was  to  be  performed.  The  king, 
who  was  in  his  own  seat,  immediately  exclaimed,  "  Master 
John,  that  place  was  designed  for  another,  yet  since  you  are 
there,  do  your  duty,  and  obey  the  charge  to  pray  for  my 
mother."  Couper  replied,  that  he  would  pray  as  the  Spirit 
directed  him,  and  immediately  began  a  tirade  of  the  most 
abusive  invectives  against  the  queen.  The  king  interrupted 
him,  whereupon  he  thumped  the  pulpit,  exclaiming,  "  This  day 
shall  bear  witness  against  you  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  Woe 
be  to  thee,  O  Edinburgh,  for  the  last  of  thy  plagues  shall  be 
the  worst ;"  and  immediately  he  came  down  from  the  pulpit, 
and  departed,  "  followed  by  the  whole  wives  in  the  Kirk." 
Archbishop  Spottiswoode's  History,  p.  354.  Sanderson,  p.  120. 


170  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1616. 

copacy  had  been  attempted  before  the  Accession, 
but  the  preachers  discovered  it,  and  opposed  it 
with  industrious  zeal.  They  met  without  permis- 
sion of  the  civil  power,  nay,  in  direct  opposition  to 
it,  at  Aberdeen,  in  July,  1605,  and  constituted  a 
General  Assembly,  for  which  act  they  were  punished 
by  the  government l.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Mel- 
villes  were  summoned  to  court,  to  answer  for  their 
turbulence,  where  the  "  venerable  Andrew"  in  par- 
ticular, the  elder  of  the  brothers,  behaved  with  his 
accustomed  rashness.  The  sermons  of  the  English 
clergy  were  heard  with  the  utmost  contemgt,  the 
service  was  beheld  with  abhorrence,  and  spoken 
of  with  levity.  Several  epigrams  were  written 
to  ridicule  the  Church 2 ;  one  of  which,  of  an  ex- 
John  Welch,  another  fanatic,  whom  the  enthusiasts  believed  to 
have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  was  of  the  same  description.  Some 
of  his  sermons  are  printed,  and  are  remarkable  for  his  "fami- 
liaritie  with  his  Maker."  Archbishop  Spottiswoode  declares, 
that  his  common  effusions  were  also  abundantly  treasonable.  In 
the  year  1596  he  had  the  insolence  to  declare  from  the  pulpit 
in  the  High  Church  of  Edinburgh,  that  "  the  king  was  possessed 
with  a  devil,  and  one  devil  being  put  out,  seven  more  were  en- 
tered in  place,  and  that  his  subjects  might  lawfully  rise,  and 
take  the  sword  out  of  his  hand." — Tantane  animis  ccelestibus 
irce  ? 

1  Only  nineteen  individuals  composed  this  Assembly  out  of 
fifty  Presbyterians.     The  majority  of  the  ministers  were  averse 
to  it.     Spottiswoode,  Hist.  p.  487. 

2  Calderwood's  History,  p.  537,  &c.    Spottiswoode's  History, 
p.  500.     Calderwood's  MS.  vol.  v.  ad  an.  1606.     Woodrow's 
MSS.  vol.  i.  folio,  in  the  Library  of  the  University  of  Glas- 
gow,   f-.rtf 


1616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  171 

tremely  reprehensible  description,  breathing  the 
genuine  spirit  of  Calvinism,  had  found  its  way  to 
the  king l.  And  when  Melville  had  been  summoned 
before  the  Council  to  assign  a  reason  for  his  licen- 
tious freedom,  he  had  not  only  reviled  the  Church 
of  England,  but  had  abused  Archbishop  Bancroft, 
who  was  present,  because  he  opposed  the  extra- 
vagancies of  Puritanism,  blamed  him  for  introduc- 
ing what  those  zealots  called  "  corruptions,  vanities, 
and  superstitions,"  into  the  Church2,  addressed 
that  venerable  prelate  as  the  enemy  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches,  and,  boldly  advancing  towards 
him,  shook  his  lawn  sleeves,  and  termed  them 
Romish  rags.  Such  was  the  insolence  of  those 
worthy  coadjutors  of  the  English  Puritans  in  the 
presence  of  their  sovereign,  and  in  contempt  of  all 
well-regulated  civil  authority.  But  James  con- 

1  Calderwood  and  Wodrow,  ut  sup.     Spottiswoode,  p.  500. 
The  following  is  the  Epigram,  which  has  been  often  printed. 

"  Cur  stant  clausi  Anglis  libri  duo,  regia  in  ara, 
Lumina  caeca  duo,  pollubra  sicca  duo  ? 

Num  sensum  cultumque  Dei  tenet  Anglia  clausum 
Lumine  caeca  suo,  sorde  sepulta  sua  ? 

Romano  et  ritu  dum  regalem  instruit  aram 
Purpuream  purget  religiosa  lupam." 

2  Spottiswoode,  who  was  present,  says  (History,  p.  500.)  that 
Melville's  behaviour  was  more  like  that  of  a  madman  than  a 
divine.     The  Dissenting  Calvinists  invariably  followed  the  no- 
tions of  their  oracle,  Calvin,  who  was  pleased  to  condescend 
on  the  Liturgy  and  Service  of  the  Church,   that  they  were 
"  tokrabiles  ineptice  !" 


172  .$  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1616- 

trived  to  punish  them  for  their  insolence,  and  An- 
drew Melville,  in  particular,  never  returned  to  the 
country,  the  inhabitants  of  which  he  had  excited  by 
his  furious  and  intolerant  zeal. 

Various  were  the  disputes  which  intervened  be- 
tween the  years  1606  and  1610,  the  year  in  which 
Archbishop  Spottiswoode  and  the  Bishops  of  Gal- 
loway and  Brechin  were  consecrated  at  Westmin- 
ster. In  1612,  Episcopacy  was  completely  re-esta- 
blished in  Scotland,  and  the  prelates  shewed  their 
attachment  to  the  Protestant  Church  by  their  zeal- 
ous opposition  to  Popery,  more  especially  in  the 
prosecution  of  Ogilvy,  a  Jesuit,  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Glasgow  *.  They  endeavoured,  by  every  expe- 
dient, to  convince  the  people  of  their  attachment  to, 
and  zeal  for,  the  Church ;  nor  would  they  have  been 
unsuccessful,  had  they  not  been  opposed  by  new 
zealots. 

The  promise  made  by  James  to  visit  Scotland 
every  third  year  had  been  hitherto  unfulfilled,  by 
reason  of  his  negligence  and  his  poverty.  At  this 
time,  however,  he  had  received  a  supply  of  money 
by  his  negotiations  with  the  Dutch,  and  he  prepared 
to  perform  his  engagement.  He  had  not  relin- 
quished his  hopes  of  the  desired  union  of  the  king- 
doms, and  he  naturally  thought  that  his  presence 
might  tend  to  conciliate  the  people,  and  further  his 
wise  intentions.  The  king  made  a  careful  selection 
of  those  who  were  to  accompany  him,  and  Laud 

1  Spottiswoode,  p.  521,  522,  523.     Calderwood,  p.  649. 


1616.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  173 

was  included  in  the  number;  because,  besides  the 
favour  which  he  at  this  time  enjoyed,  his  well- 
known  abilities  might  be  of  service  among  the 
northern  enthusiasts.  The  grand  object  of  the  king, 
in  the  first  instance,  was  to  effect  a  uniformity  in 
the  two  Churches  ;  a  measure  not  only  expedient, 
but  highly  justifiable,  especially  in  times  when  it  had 
not  been  discovered,  as  the  experience  of  the  last 
century  has  proved,  that  two  separate  Protestant 
establishments  may  exist  in  a  kingdom  united  in 
political  force,  and  yet  each  have  a  different  eccle- 
siastical constitution.  "  In  the  next  century,"  says 
Laing,  "  their  posterity  discovered,  nor  was  experi- 
ence necessary  to  prove,  that  if  the  relative  obliga- 
tions to  government  are  the  same,  uniformity  of 
religious  or  of  municipal  laws  is  not  essential  to  an 
incorporating  union."  These  opinions,  however, 
must  be  received  with  very  great  limitations,  and  as 
only  applicable  in  some  instances  and  in  a  more  en- 
lightened age ;  for  had  Presbytery,  Puritanism,  or 
Calvinism  (for  these  names  are  all  synonymous)  been 
established  in  Scotland  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  had  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Scot- 
tish votaries  of  Geneva  been  gratified,  where  would 
have  been  the  security  of  the  Church  of  England  ? 
Leagued  as  they  had  been  with  the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land, even  when  they  had  not  thoroughly  adopted 
the  order  of  Calvin,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and 
still  more  united  with  them  at  this  time,  since  they 
viewed  the  Puritan  cause  as  their  own,  and  as 
congenial  to  their  feelings,  the  constitution  of  Eng- 


174  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1616. 

land  would  have  fallen,  it  would  have  passed,  as  it 
latterly  did,  into  the  hands  of  demagogues,  who, 
when  they  did  obtain  the  mastery  both  in  England 
and  Scotland,  were  not  one  whit  behind  their  Popish 
predecessors  in  insolence  and  persecution.  And  it 
certainly  does  ill  become  factious  men  of  the  present 
day  to  charge  the  Church  of  England  with  cruelty 
and  intolerance  towards  the  Puritans ;  since  those 
very  factions,  as  they  themselves  admit,  were  striv- 
ing to  overturn  the  state,  under  the  specious  pre- 
tence of  a  tender  conscience.  The  unhappy  primacy 
of  Abbot  was  fostering  the  dark  and  daring  spirit 
of  Calvinism ;  men  were  admitted  into  the  Church 
who  were  secretly  undermining  its  foundations. 
The  Church,  under  this  Primacy,  was  too  visibly 
hastening  to  its  fall ;  for  it  had  less  to  fear,  as  the 
issue  proved,  from  those  without,  than  from  those 
within.  Hence,  then,  in  general,  uniformity  of 
religious  laws  is  absolutely  necessary ;  and  it  is  only 
because  the  legal  church-establishment  of  Scotland 
at  present  is  somewhat  different  from  the  plan  of 
its  first  supporters  ;  it  is  because  the  insufferable 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  that  precious  speci- 
men of  Calvinistic  intolerance  and  rebellion,  is  sup- 
pressed; it  is  because  frequent  intercourse  with 
their  more  learned  and  more  polished  neighbours  of 
England  has  softened  the  rude  asperity  and  gloomy 
fanaticism  of  the  descendants  of  the  Covenanters ; 
it  is  because  the  rage  for  covenanting  chivalry  has 
passed  away,  and  the  consolidated  civil  laws  of  Great 
Britain  alike  prevail  over  the  religious  and  muni- 


1617/J  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  175 

cipal  laws  of  Scotland,  which  are  now  in  force ;  it 
is,  in  short,  because  Calvinism  has  lost  its  power, 
and,  consequently,  is  shorn  of  its  intolerance,  that 
two  different  Protestant  establishments  can  co- exist, 
holding,  in  general,  the  same  doctrinal  truths,  and 
that  "  uniformity  of  religious  or  municipal  laws  is 
not  essential  to  an  incorporating  union." 

Laud  having  been  appointed  to  accompany  James, 
on  the  14th  day  of  March,  1617,  the  monarch  began 
his  journey.  -We  are  informed,  that  as  he  passed 
through  Lincoln,  he  was  magnificently  entertained 
by  Laud's  constant  friend,  Dr.  Neile,  the  Bishop  of 
the  See.  He  had  previously  dispatched  commis- 
sioners to  Scotland,  to  make  some  preparations  for 
his  arrival ;  and  among  the  rest,  as  he  did  not 
choose  to  patronise  the  rhodomontade  and  extem- 
poraneous effusions  of  the  Calvinists,  or  to  attend 
their  conventicles,  to  repair  the  chapel-royal  at  the 
palace  of  Holyroodhouse,  that  public  worship  might 
be  celebrated  in  it  according  to  the  forms  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  This  exercise  of  conscience  the 
zealots  of  Edinburgh  chose  to  consider  as  a  re- 
markable innovation ;  and  seeing  a  few  decorations 
in  the  interior  of  the  building,  (for  it  had  been 
almost  in  a  state  of  dilapidation  since  the  reign  of 
Mary),  a  report  was  instantly  spread,  that  mass  was 
to  be  introduced,  and  their  preachers  assisted  in 
publishing  the  falsehood  ;  so  grossly  ignorant  were 
they  of  the  Church  they  reviled.  Cowper,  Bishop 
of  Galloway,  though  an  amiable  man,  dean  of 
the  chapel-royal,  having  been  formerly  a  zealous 

' 


176  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1617. 

Calvinist,  entered  into  the  feelings  of  the  populace, 
and  wrote  to  Spottiswoode,  who  was  now  in  the 
primacy  of  St.  Andrew's ;  but  the  Archbishop  justly 
treated  his  fears  as  visionary  and  groundless.  The 
other  bishops,  however,  succeeded  in  restraining 
some  of  the  arrangements  in  the  chapel,  for  which 
they  were  reproved  by  the  king,  who  ascribed  it  to 
their  narrow  views,  and  unceremoniously  told  them, 
that  he  would  bring  with  him  some  English  theolo- 
gians to  enlighten  their  minds. 

On  the  13th  of  May  the  king  arrived  in  Scotland, 
and  was  received  with  the  greatest  demonstrations 
of  joy.  His  learning  was  gratified  by  an  exhibition 
of  pedantry  from  the  Scottish  Universities,  particu- 
larly those  of  St.  Andrew's  and 'Edinburgh ;  and  his 
wit,  by  puns  on  the  names  of  the  professors l.  But 
the  affairs  of  the  Church  required  his  especial  care. 
Although  the  Episcopal  Church  was  established,  and 
its  government  thoroughly  primitive,  yet  it  re- 
tained the  Presbyterian  form  of  worship — a  form,  as 
Lord  Kaimes  well  expresses  it,  fit  only  for  philoso- 
phers. Its  rude  simplicity  seemed  to  enthusiasts 
pure  and  divine  ;  but  to  the  rational,  nothing  could 
be  more  indecorous  and  illiberal.  The  Scottish 
Church  wanted  that  admirable  protection  against 
fanaticism,  preservative  of  vital  religion,  and  de- 
fence of  sound  doctrine,  a  Liturgy,  such  as  the 


1  The  Muse's  Welcome  to  James,  Johnston's  History,  p.  5 1 9. 
Crawford's  Account  of  Edinburgh  College,  MS.  in  the  Library 
of  that  University. 


1617.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  177 

Church  of  England  possessed ;  and  Laud,  fre- 
quently consulted  by  James,  pressed  him  to  adopt 
some  decisive  measures.  The  king  was  resolved 
not  to  lose  sight  of  his  favourite  object,  and  expe- 
rience had  taught  him  the  beneficial  effects  of  a 
public  form  of  prayer. 

The  Scottish  parliament  assembled;  the  proceed- 
ings of  which  were  protested  against  by  three 
preachers,  Simpson,  Ewart,  and  Calderwood  the 
historian.  They  were  summoned  to  St.  Andrew's, 
and  there  silenced  by  deprivation,  inasmuch  as  their 
protest  was  reckoned  seditious  in  its  interpretation. 
The  king  presided  in  the  court,  and  in  passing  sen- 
tence remarked,  that  "  as  long  as  they  were  de- 
prived only  of  their  benefices,  they  stood  out,  be- 
cause they  preached  on,  and  lived  on  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  people  :  but  when  they  were  deprived 
of  their  office,  many  yielded,  and  were  now  the  best 
men  in  the  kingdom :  therefore  the  same  course 
must  be  adopted  with  them  as  with  the  Puritans." 
In  the  mean  time,  the  sermons  of  the  Presbyterians 
abounded  with  invectives  against  the  king ;  and  in 
their  prayers  they  not  only  condemned  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church,  but  zealously  prayed  that 
they  might  be  preserved  from  the  same.  Laud,  and 
some  of  the  king's  chaplains,  heard  these  discourses, 
and  reported  them  to  the  king ;  but  "  at  this  time," 
says  Heylin,  "  there  was  no  remedy ;  the  Scots 
were  Scots,  and  were  resolved  to  go  on  in  their  own 
way." 

On  the  clay  after  the  punishment  of  the  factious 
VOL.  i.  N 


178  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1617. 

preachers,  the  following  alterations  in  the  service  of 
the  Church  were  proposed  by  James : — "  I.  That  the 
holy  Eucharist  should  be  reverently  received  kneel- 
ing. II.  That  it  should  be  administered  in  private, 
and  in  extreme  sickness.  III.  That  baptism  should 
be  administered  in  private,  if  necessary.  IV.  That 
episcopal  confirmation  should  be  bestowed  on  youth. 
V.  That  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  birth, 
passion,  resurrection,  and  ascension  of  Christ,  should 
be  commemorated,  on  the  appointed  days."  In 
these  propositions  James  observed,  that  it  was  the 
prerogative  of  a  Christian  king  to  regulate  the  ex- 
ternal polity  of  the  Church ;  nor  would  he  disregard 
their  disapprobation  of  these  articles,  unless  their 
arguments  admitted  of  no  reply.  The  assembled 
preachers  said  nothing,  but  fell  upon  their  knees 
before  him,  and  requested  a  General  Assembly,  that 
these  articles  might  be  discussed l. 

We  are  told  that  Laud  was  not  content  with  these 
articles,  but  pressed  the  king  to  bring  the  Scottish 
Church  to  a  nearer  conformity  with  that  of  Eng- 
land2. This  was  hardly  prudent  at  the  present 
juncture,  because  the  Genevan  adherents  were  nu- 
merous and  popular.  >  Nevertheless,  it  might  appear 
to  him,  that  were  the  king  to  tamper  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  populace,  additional  strength 
might  be  imparted  to  the  opposition.  Decisive 
measures  were  perhaps  as  expedient  as  the  reverse ; 

for  the  king  had   found  that  the  Scots,  like  the 

•  <^ 

/ 

1  Spottiswoode,  p.  534.  2  Heylin,  p.  72,  73. 

7 


1617.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  179 

English  Puritans,  were  not  to  be  gained  by  lenity  or 
moderation ;  and  if  one  request  was  granted  them, 
they  would  soon  make  it  a  precedent  for  others. 
They  had  advanced  no  arguments  in  defence,  but 
what  had  been  refuted ;  and  as  they  made  consci- 
ence the*  excuse  for  their  extravagant  conduct  in 
religion,  so  the  same  pretence  might  be  assigned 
for  their  political  acts,  since  they  had  the  address 
invariably  to  blend  religion  and  politics  together. 
And  it  appears,  after  all,  that  had  the  king  exercised 
coercion  at  this  juncture ;  had  he  established  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland  on  its  rightful  basis 
at  once,  before  the  malecontents  acquired  strength 
and  influence  to  rally  their  adherents ;  and  had  he 
assigned  to  that  Church  a  jurisdiction  and  a  power 
ample  and  complete,  much  of  the  fanaticism  of  the 
nation  would  have  been  restrained,  and  the  people, 
by  the  diligence  of  their  pastors,  would  have  forgot- 
ten or  disregarded  the  pretended  infallibility  of  the 
notions  of  Calvin. 

James,  advised  by  Laud  and  the  clergy  who  were 
with  him,  granted  the  preachers  an  Assembly,  after 
having  held  an  interview  with  the  prelates.  But 
he  took  a  politic  course  to  ensure  compliance  with 
his  wishes.  Instead  of  arguing  and  disputing,  which 
the  king  saw  was  useless,  he  withheld  from  the 
preachers  the  salaries  which  had  been  paid  out  of  his 
Exchequer ;  and  this  had  no  inconsiderable  effeet. 
He  then  took  his  departure  from  Scotland,  in  which, 
contrary  to  his  expectations,  his  authority  had  as  yet 
been  treated  with  decided  opposition  and  contempt. 

N  2 


ISO  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G18. 

After  his  departure  the  Assembly  met  at  St.  An- 
drew's, but  nothing  was  decided ;  and  the  king  was 
highly  incensed  at  the  conduct  of  the  bishops,  when 
the  account  was  transmitted  to  him.  They  had 
demanded  from  the  faction  that  nothing  should  be 
determined  until  another  assembly ;  and  in  the  mean 
time  Archbishop  Spottiswoode,  who  had  incurred 
James'  displeasure,  was  most  indefatigable  in  his 
exertions  for  the  Church.  The  next  Assembly,  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Perth  Assembly,  was  held  at 
Perth  on  the  26th  of  August,  1618,  when  the  fa- 
mous "  Five  Articles"  were  finally  confirmed.  It 
was  attended  by  commissioners  from  the  king, 
almost  all  the  nobility  and  gentry,  all  the  bishops, 
(except  the  Bishop  of  Argyle),  and  the  ministers  who 
were  elected  by  the  Presbyterians.  Archbishop 
Spottiswoode  opened  the  court  with  an  admirable 
sermon,  in  which  he  defended,  with  great  ability, 
the  discipline  and  ritual  of  the  Church.  He  then 
proceeded  to  the  moderator's  chair,  and  when  an 
objection  was  urged  to  his  right,  the  primate  stoutly 
replied,  that  the  Assembly  was  held  within  his  dio- 
cese, and  while  he  lived  no  one  should  occupy  his 
place.  The  Dean  of  Winchester  then  presented  a 
letter  from  the  king,  and,  after  some  little  discus- 
sion, the  five  Articles  were  ratified,  when  put  to 
the  vote,  by  a  large  majority  l,  and  henceforward 

1  Pamphlets,  published  1619.  Calderwood's  MSS.  vol.  vi. 
p.  407.  422—424.  Spottiswoode,  p.  534,  535,  &c.  Calder- 
wood's Hist.  p.  691,  692.  Life  of  Spottiswoode,  apud  Wod- 
row  MSS.  p.  62—73.  Lord  Hailes'  Memorials,  p.  94—104. 


1618.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  181 

were  to  be  adopted  into  the  ritual  of  the  Scottish 
Church. 

Such  was  the  result  of  an  Assembly,  memorable 
as  the  last  in  James*  reign,  in  which  an  act  was 
passed  for  the  admission  of  Articles  which  the  king 
had  been  negotiating  for  two  years,  and  which, 
perhaps,  would  not  have  been  assented  to  by  many 
of  the  Calvinists,  had  not  the  king  withheld  the  pay- 
ment of  their  stipends.  It  is  doubtless  true,  that 
the  Presbyterians  afterwards  denied  the  validity  of 
its  proceedings,  and  their  adherents  have  laboured 
to  prove  that  it  was  informal ;  but  it  appears,  not- 
withstanding, that  the  Assembly  was  lawfully  con- 
vened, and  was  composed  of  the  representatives  of 
the  nation l.  The  Articles  were  rigidly  enforced, 
but  without  effect.  On  Christmas  day,  divine  wor- 
ship was  disregarded  ;  and  rather  than  receive  the 
Eucharist  kneeling,  the  zealots  either  refrained  from 
it  altogether,  or  associated  with  the  rabble.  They 
followed  their  daily  avocations  on  the  days  enjoined 
by  the  Church  for  public  worship ;  and  in  Edin- 
burgh, it  is  hinted  by  Spottiswoode,  the  magistrates 
secretly  encouraged  the  populace  in  their  opposi- 
tion 2.  The  rebellious  ministers  were  of  course  de- 
prived, some  were  punished  by  imprisonment,  others 
by  fines,  for  inflaming  their  adherents.  Let  us  hear 
what  a  Scottish  historian  remarks  on  this  subject. 
"  The  ceremonies  were  imposed,"  says  Laing,  "  by 


1  Vindication  by  Lindsay,  apud  Lord  Hailes,  vol.  i.  p.  89. 
Spottiswoode,  p.  540. 


182  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1618. 

the  prelates  as  things  in  themselves  indifferent,  in 
which  obedience  is  due  to  the  supreme  power ; 
without  recollecting,  that  whatever  is  indifferent  in 
religion,  should  belong  to  the  votary's  discretion  or 
choice.  A  nation  whose  prayers  to  the  Deity  are 
uttered  on  foot,  in  an  erect  posture,  was  not  disposed 
to  obey  the  requisition  of  the  sovereign,  and  to  bend 
the  knee  to  the  sacramental  symbols1."  But  such 
opinions  are  founded  on  fallacious  principles,  which 
would  lead  to  tumult  and  confusion  ;  they  contain 
an  apology  for  that  irreverence  and  rashness  in  the 
presence  of  the  Deity,  which  too  much  prevails 
among  the  sectarians  of  every  description,  by  which 
the  sacred  duty  of  prayer  is  often  profaned,  or  its 
language  is  used  as  a  vehicle  for  the  expression  of 
private  prejudice,  and  as  a  vindication  of  that  seem- 
ing carelessness  and  recklessness  in  Presbyterian 
congregations,  on  the  pernicious  effects  of  which  it 
is  needless  to  expatiate. 

Thus  ended,  for  the  remainder  of  James*  reign, 
all  attempts  to  carry  into  effect  the  scheme  for 
uniting  the  English  and  Scottish  Churches ;  a  scheme 
judicious  in  itself,  and  worthy  of  James'  character- 
istic wisdom,  but  which  the  fanaticism  of  the  origi- 
nal Scottish  reformers  first  rendered  abortive,  and 
which  the  Calvinism  of  Geneva,  with  the  Puritanism 
in  England,  and  the  unhappy  primacy  of  Abbot, 
finally  made  hopeless,  by  a  bold  and  daring  opposi- 
tion. It  was  left  to  James'  successor  to  continue 

1  Laing's  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  79,  80.  Lond.  1800. 

* 


1618.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  183 

his  father's  design,  but  with  worse  success ;  and  it 
was  reserved  for  Laud  to  take  a  more  active  part 
in  the  business  at  a  subsequent  period.  James  re- 
turned to  England,  discontented  with  his  journey. 
He  proceeded  through  Lancashire,  and,  while  in 
that  county,  Laud  obtained  his  permission  to  visit 
Oxford,  and  was  inducted  into  the  rectory  of 
Ibstock,  in  Leicestershire,  in  the  gift  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rochester,  which  he  had  exchanged  for  Norton. 
At  Oxford  he  was  received  by  his  friends  with  the 
greatest  affection,  after  his  long  absence  ;  and  here 
he  received  the  pleasing  information,  that  by  his 
exertions  he  had  restrained  the  Puritan  enthusiasm 
at  Gloucester,  and  that  the  service  of  the  Church 
was  performed  with  devotion  and  solemnity.  Nor 
had  any  thing  remarkable  happened  during  his  ab- 
sence, except  some  domestic  afflictions  to  Archbishop 
Abbot.  This  year  died  his  brother,  Dr.  Robert 
Abbot,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who,  we  are  informed 
by  Heylin,  having  married  when  near  sixty  years  of 
age,  incurred  the  resentment  of  his  brother  to  such 
a  degree,  that  it  affected  him  "  even  unto  death." 


184  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1619. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1619—1622. 
:>  >m  :any;' : 

Political  errors  of  James — Clamours  against  Laud — His  pro- 
motion— Made  prebend  of  Westminster — Selfish  conduct  of 
Bishop  Williams — Promotion  of  Laud  to  the  See  of  St.  Da- 
vid's— Fruitless  opposition  of  Archbishop  Abbot — Aspect  of 
the  times — Archbishop  Abbot's  misfortunes — He  kills  a  game- 
keeper by  accident — History  of  the  affair— He  is  pardoned 
by  the  King — Consecration  of  the  new  Bishops — Their  un- 
founded scruples — Diligence  of  Laud — His  primary  Visita- 
tion— Advantages  of  it — His  return  to  London — The  Parlia- 
ment— Distressing  situation  of  the  King — Vindication  of 
James —  The  Parliament  is  dissolved — Intrigues  of  the  Pu- 
ritans— Calvinism — Remarks  on  Predestination — Its  effects 
— Instructions  of  the  King  to  the  Clergy — Critical  situation 
of  the  Church  of  England — Intrigues  of  the  Papists — The 
famous  Conference  between  Laud  and  Fisher  the  Jesuit — Ex- 
tracts from  the  Relation  of  it — His  sentiments  on  error. 

OF  the  many  historical  transactions  which  took 
place  at  this  period,  I  shall  at  present  notice  only 
the  most  important:  these  were,  the  death  of 
Henry  Prince  of  Wales,  the  meeting  of  the  famous 
Synod  of  Dort,  in  which  James,  by  countenancing 
its  proceedings,  committed  the  most  unfortunate 
error  into  which  he  was  betrayed  during  the  whole 
course  of  his  reign,  and  the  death  of  the  Queen, 
Archbishop  Abbot's  chief  supporter,— an  intriguing 
and  artful  princess,  who  had  but  little  regard  for 


r.  • 


1619.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  185 

the  honour  and  dignity  of  her  husband,  or  for  the 
welfare  of  his  subjects.  The  king's  greatest  mis- 
fortune, I  have  said,  was  his  ratifying  the  Synod 
of  Dort ;  and  bitterly  did  his  family  feel  it  in  an 
after  period.  Nor  would  he,  indeed,  have  counte- 
nanced that  Synod,  so  replete  in  its  effects  with 
disasters  to  himself  and  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, had  he  not  been  stimulated  by  political  mo- 
tives, that  he  might  support  the  party  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  and  further  the  interests  of  the 
Elector  Palatine,  who  had  married  his  daughter, 
the  Princess  Elizabeth. 

Laud  had  now  surmounted  the  various  persecu- 
tions he  had  encountered ;  yet  his  enemies  resolved 
still  to  oppose  him,  on  every  favourable  opportu- 
nity. In  proportion  as  he  rose  in  the  King's  favour, 
Archbishop  Abbot  declined;  for  James  saw  the 
malevolence  of  those  who  had  studiously  endea- 
voured to  ruin  the  reputation  of  a  man  so  resolute 
in  his  defence  of  the  Church  against  the  innova- 
tions of  the  sectarian  members.  Yet  one  of  Laud's 
actions  had  given  them  occasion  to  renew  their 
scandal :  he  had  placed  an  organ  in  St.  John's 
Chapel,  and  this  was  held  by  his  fanatical  enemies 
to  be  a  decisive  proof  of  his  popish  inclinations. 
The  Presbyterians,  who  looked  with  contempt  on 
every  harmless  decoration,  delighted  in  the  nearest 
approximation  possible  to  rudeness  in  the  churches, 
and  preached  a  crusade  against  every  thing  which 
tended  to  promote  devotional  feeling,  apart  from 
their  own  absurd  and  clownish  taste.  And  yet  it 


186  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1620. 

is  not  the  less  remarkable,  that  the  admirers  of 
those  very  men,  whose  bigotry  and  insolence  were 
intolerable,  have  either  adopted  an  instrument 
which  their  ancestors  condemned,  or  others  much 
less  harmonious  and  impressive,  or,  as  in  the  north, 
where  the  cry  of  Popery  would  at  once  be  raised 
by  the  zealots  of  Presbytery,  they  have  become 
disgusted  in  many  places  at  the  nasal  drawlings  of 
their  clerks,  termed  precentors,  and  have  now  a 
hired  band  of  vocalists,  who  warble  forth  such  mer- 
cenary strains  as  are  to  be  heard  in  many  of  the 
English  conventicles.  But  when  the  remnants  of 
fanaticism  have  been  obliterated,  men  will  learn  to 
think  and  judge  with  reason,  nor  will  they  deny  to 
the  temples  of  the  Almighty  those  decorations 
which  are  fitted  to  quicken  and  nourish  that  inward 
reverence  and  devotion  which  are  due  to  sovereign 
Majesty  and  Power. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1620,  Laud  was  in- 
stalled Prebendary  of  Westminster,  to  which  dig- 
nity he  had  been  advanced  ten  years  before  by  his 
friend  Bishop  Neile.  It  had  been  generally  reported 
at  Court,  that  he  was  to  get  the  Deanery  of  that 
Church  *,  but  Dr.  Williams,  the  Dean,  having  been 
presented  to  the  Bishopric  of  Lincoln,  wished 
rather  to  keep  it  in  his  own  hands.  The  King, 
Laud  says  himself,  used  to  observe  to  him,  when 
commending  him  for  his  long  services  to  the  crown, 


1  Diary,  p.  4.  Prynne's  Breviat,  p.  3.    Heylin,  p.  80.  Wood, 
A  then.  Oxon.  vol.  iii. 


16*0.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  187 

that  he  had  given  him  nothing  but  the  Deanery  of 
Gloucester,  "  a  shell  without  a  kernel  V  From 
this  it  appears  that  the  King  thought  his  merits  and 
services  had  not  been  sufficiently  rewarded. 

That  Laud  would  have  preferred  the  Deanery  of 
Westminster  to  the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's,  to 
which  he  was  about  to  be  promoted  as  a  compensa- 
tion, there  can  be  no  question ;  for,  though  he  does 
not  expressly  say  so,  yet  his  eliptical  notation  of 
the  circumstance  evinces  that  he  was  disappointed. 
Perhaps  he  felt,  too,  that  the  conduct  of  Bishop 
Williams  was  not  in  accordance  with  his  former 
professions  of  friendship ;  and  he  could  not  be  in- 
different to  the  extraordinary  self-interest  of  that 
prelate,  who,  in  addition  to  the  See  of  Lincoln, 
had  been  appointed  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of 
England,  in  the  room  of  the  famous  Francis  Bacon, 
Lord  Verulam,  and  Lord  High  Chancellor,  who 
had  been  banished  from  Court  in  disgrace.  "  Wil- 
liams so  prevailed  at  Court,"  says  Heylin,  "  that 
when  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  he  retained 
his  Deanery  in  commendam,  together  with  such 
other  preferments  as  he  held  at  the  time,  that  is  to 
say,  a  prebend  and  residentiary  place  in  the  Ca- 
thedral Church  of  Lincoln,  and  the  Rectory  of 
Walgrave,  Northamptonshire,  so  that  he  was  a 
perfect  Diocese  within  himself  (in  his  own  person,) 
as  being  Bishop,  Dean,  Prebend,  Residentiary,  and 

1  Diary,  ut  sup.  Bishop  Williams,  says  Wood,  shewed  him- 
self more  a  politician  than  a  friend. 


188  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1620. 

Parson,,  and  all  these  at  once."  This  is  no  favour- 
able specimen  of  Bishop  Williams.  The  Bishopric 
of  St.  David's  being  then  vacant  by  the  promotion 
of  Dr.  Milbourne  to  the  See  of  Carlisle,  and  Wil- 
liams, seeing  the  king's  disposition  towards  Laud, 
being  aware,  that  if  he  was  not  promoted  to  that 
vacant  See,  he  would  most  certainly  receive  West- 
minster, employed  his  interest  with  the  king,  and 
with  the  celebrated  Buckingham,  the  court  favourite, 
James,  it  is  said,  being  at  first  unwilling  to  raise 
him  to  the  Episcopate  at  once.  Laud  was  nomi- 
nated to  the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's.  The  insi- 
nuation, however,  that  the  King  was  averse  to  his 
promotion,  is  undoubtedly  gratuitous,  and  rests 
solely  on  the  authority  of  his  enemies ;  for  he  ex- 
pressly informs  us,  that  he  got  permission  from  the 
King,  so  great  was  his  favour  towards  him,  to  hold 
not  only  his  Prebend  in  Westminster,  but  also  the 
Presidentship  of  St.  John's  College,  in  commen- 
dam,  with  the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's,  Bishop 
Williams,  however  selfishly  he  acted  on  this  occasion, 
still  remained  Laud's  friend,  for  we  find  him  about 
a  year  afterwards  assigning  to  Laud  a  benefice  of 
120/.  per  annum  in  the  Diocese  of  St.  David's,  to 
increase  the  revenues  arising  from  the  bishopric  *. 

1  Philips'  Life  of  Archbishop  Williams,  p.  78.  That  the 
King's  disposition  was  favourable  towards  him,  appears  from 
his  Diary,  p.  4,  where  he  records  the  facts.  The  enemies  of 
Laud,  however,  have  been  busy  here  in  their  mal-representa- 
tions.  Coke,  in  his  Detection,  vol.  i.  p.  144,  145  (edit.  1719.)' 
and  Bishop  Hacket,  in  his  Life  of  Archbishop  Williams  (p.  63, 


1620.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  189 

Those  transactions  were  not  observed  without 
concern  by  Archbishop  Abbot,  who,  beholding  the 
elevation  of  a  man  whom  he  hated,  endeavoured  to 
oppose  it  as  much  as  possible.  His  motives  for 
doing  so  were  two-fold — the  former  hostility  which 
subsisted  between  them,  and  their  difference  of 

64.)  assert,  that  the  King  was  utterly  averse,  "  assigning  for 
reasons,  Laud's  marriage  of  the  Lady  Rich,  and  his  urging  the 
King  not  to  rest  at  the  Five  Articles  of  Perth,"  &c.  But  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  especially  Lord  Keeper  Williams, 
earnestly  importuned  King  James,  and  saying,  how  sorry  Laud 
was  for  them,  the  King  at  last  said,  "And  is  there  no  hoe  but 
you  will  carry  it !  then  take  him  to  you,  but  on  my  soul  you 
will  repent  it :  and  so  went  away  in  anger,  using  other 
fierce  ominous  words."  This  story  is  ridiculous  and  improbable, 
especially  concerning  the  Five  Articles  of  Perth,  the  urging  of 
which  wTould  have  been  rather  a  recommendation  to  James. 
It  is  asserted  by  some  writers,  that  he  owed  his  advance- 
ment solely  to  Bishop  Williams,  (Hacket,  ut  sup.  p.  64 — 66. 
85,  86.  115,  &c.  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  61. 
Oldmixon's  History  of  the  Stuarts,  vol.  i.  p.  57.)  by  which 
they  endeavour  to  substantiate  Laud's  criminality  in  his  subse- 
quent conduct  to  the  Bishop,  and  to  prove  his  ingratitude :  but 
every  one  who  candidly  examines  this  part  of  Laud's  life  will 
admit,  that  Williams  interested  himself  in  Laud  not  so  much 
out  of  kindness  as  to  answer  his  own  purposes.  (Wood,  Athen. 
Oxon.  ut  sup.)  Bishop  Hacket's  aspersions  on  Laud  bear  in 
the  very  language  the  hostile  spirit  of  party,  and  a  resolution  to 
traduce  the  memory  of  one  man  at  the  expense  of  another. 
Wharton's  Preface  to  Laud's  Diary,  &c.  p.  5,  6.  That  they 
both  fell  into  dispute  afterwards  is  too  true,  nor  can  the  whole 
conduct  of  Laud  be  entirely  justified,  but  we  shall  afterwards 
see  Archbishop  Williams  acting  in  no  very  favourable  manner 
towards  his  enemy,  taking  advantage  of  his  misfortunes,  and 
pursuing  him  with  the  most  inveterate  hostility. 


190  LIFE  AND  TIMES  {1620. 

opinion  *.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  lodged  represen- 
tations about  Laud's  fiery  spirit,,  and  his  Popish  in- 
clinations ;  Calvinism  was  now  on  the  decline,  the 
Archbishop's  Puritan  inclinations  were  observed  by 
the  King,  who  saw,  with  regret,  the  consequences 
which  were  daily  arising  from  his  patronage  of  the 
Calvinists  ;  and  the  Primate's  friends  at  court  now 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  his  insinuations.  Perhaps, 
indeed,  his  opposition  was  of  service  to  Laud ;  for 
James  was  the  more  disposed  to  promote  a  man  who 
had  the  courage  to  oppose  and  restrain  the  Calvin- 
istic  extravagances,  as  daily  exhibited  by  the  Puri- 
tans, whose  opinions,  as  South  well  remarks,  James 
hated  heartily,  because  he  understood  them  tho- 
roughly. One  writer  remarks  of  Laud,  "  He  was 
too  full  of  fire,  though  a  just  and  good  man ;  and 
his  want  of  experience  in  state  matters,  and  his  too 
much  zeal  for  the  Church,  and  heat,  if  he  proceeded 
in  the  way  he  was  then  in/ would  set  this  nation  on 
fire2."  But  Laud  saw  well  the  consequences  of 
Abbot's  government,  and  he  was  convinced  that  de- 
cisive measures  could  alone  counteract  the  impend- 
ing fate  of  the  Church.  His  prognostications  were 
unhappily  too  well  founded.  During  Abbot's  un- 
happy primacy,  Calvinism  was  permitted  to  take  its 
natural  course,  fostered  and  countenanced  by  him, 
and  "  schism  and  rebellion,  its  twin  offspring,  went 
hand  in  hand,"  and  were  destined,  in  the  next  reign, 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  61,  62. 

2  Whitelock's  Memorials,  p.  34. 


1620.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  191 

to  break  out  with  uncontrolable  violence,  and  over- 
turn the  constitution,  making  a  melancholy  ruin  of 
Church  and  State.  Had  the  Church  been  rightly 
governed  after  the  death  of  Bancroft,  had  a  suc- 
cessor worthy  of  that  primate  been  appointed,  no 
opposing  power  could  have  effected  its  overthrow, 
and  it  would  have  stood  secure  against  every  adver- 
sary. But  the  fall  of  the  Church  was  that  of  the 
State  ;  and  the  factious  enthusiasts  well  knew,  that 
their  ambition  would  not  be  gratified  until  that 
achievement  was  accomplished.  Such  will  again 
be  the  case,  if  ever  rebellion  be  permitted  to  make 
silent  inroads  in  our  land.  The  Church  will  first 
be  attacked,  and  if  it  falls,  the  State  will  share  in 
its  ruin.  The  fact  is  clear  from  former  experience: 
the  Church  of  England,  in  those  perilous  times, 
was  overthrown  not  by  the  Nonconformists  who 
were  kept  out,  for  they  were  well-known,  and  even 
honourable  enemies,  inasmuch  as  they  did  not  dis- 
guise their  hostility,  but  by  the  Calvinists  whom 
Abbot  admitted  within  its  pale.  It  had  resources 
within  itself,  sufficient  to  withstand  all  its  enemies. 
It  was  betrayed  in  the  house  of  its  pretended 
friends1. 

But  while  Abbot  beheld  with  regret  a  man  whom,      7  f 
because  he  was  not  a  Calvinist,  he  heartily  hated, 
and  while  he  was  fruitlessly  exerting  himself,  and 
pertinaciously  adhering  in  his  opposition,  an  un- 
happy circumstance  occurred   to  himself,  shortly 

1  Quarterly  Review,  No.  LXXIII, 


192  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1620, 

after  Laud's  nomination  to  St.  David's,  which, 
while  it  delayed  his  consecration,  was  of  no  small 
importance.  Towards  the  end  of  1619,  the  Elec- 
tor Palatine,  James'  son-in-law,  had  involved  him- 
self in  misfortune,  by  rashly  accepting  the  crown 
of  Bohemia,  calculating  that  the  British  monarch 
would  assist  him  in  his  affairs l.  Great  disputes, 
consequently,  arose  in  the  English  Council ;  some 
members  insisting  that  James  ought  not  to  inter- 
fere, while  others,  and  all  those  who  favoured  the 
Calvinistic  faction,  asserted  that  James  ought  to 
espouse  the  cause  of  his  son-in-law,  from  natural 
affection,  and  a  regard  to  the  Protestant  interest. 
The  first  opinion,  which  was  held  by  all  those  who 
loved  their  country,  and  who,  rising  superior  to 
the  whining  enthusiasm  of  the  day,  saw  that  James* 
interference  would  excite  a  war  in  Germany,  was 
strenuously  opposed  by  the  admirers  of  Calvinism, 
on  whose  minds  the  words  Protestant  interest  ope- 
rated like  some  hidden  charm.  Abbot,  of  course, 
agreed  with  the  latter,  and  bethought  himself  of 
addressing  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State  on  the 
subject.  The  following  year  was  spent  in  debates 
and  fruitless  negotiations,  in  which  James  took 
great  interest 2.  In  the  mean  time,  the  primate's  ill 
health  made  him  less  active  in  this  political  trans- 
action, and  having  been  long  on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  Lord  Zouch,  that  nobleman  invited  hii 
to  his  seat  at  Bramshall,  in  Berkshire,  to  enjoy 

1  Sanderson's  King  James,  p.  482.  2  Ibid.  p.  48. 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  193 

the  pleasures  of  the  field,  and  £0  invigorate  his 
body.  The  primate  accepted  the  invitation,  but, 
while  hunting  one  day  in  the  park,  he  discharged  an 
arrow  at  one  of  the  deer,  which,  missing  its  mark, 
unfortunately  struck  one  of  Lord  Zouch's  game- 
keepers. The  man  had  been  warned  more  than 
once  to  keep  out  of  the  way,  but  whether  the  Arch- 
bishop's hand  trembled,  or  the  man  disregarded 
the  admonition,  is  uncertain :  he  was  mortally 
wounded,  and  bled  to  death  in  the  course  of  an 
hour.  He  was  concealed  about  the  thicket  when 
he  was  struck,  and  nothing  could  exceed  Abbot's 
distress  when  the  cries  of  the  man  reached  his  ear. 
The  unhappy  accident  excited  in  him  the  deepest 
despondency,  and  throughout  his  whole  life  he  re- 
ligiously observed  the  day,  on  its  annual  return,  as 
a  solemn  fast.  He  retired  to  Guildford,  his  native 
town,  and  there  resigned  himself  to  grief,  abiding 
with  patience  the  issue  of  the  great  calamity  which 
had  befallen  him  \ 

At  this  very  time  four  bishops  were  to  be  con- 
secrated, Dr.  John  Davenant,  to  the  See  of  Salis- 
bury; Dr.  John  Williams,  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great 
Seal,  to  that  of  Lincoln ;  Dr.  Valentine  Casey,  to 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  87.  Heylin,  p.  80. 
Baker's  Chronicle,  1674,  p.  521.  Racket's  Life  of  Williams, 
p.  65.  Le  Neve's  Protestant  Archbishops,  p.  6-5.  Sanderson, 
p.  531.  Reliquiae  Spelmanniae,  p.  122,  123.  Laud's  Diary, 
p.  4.  Prynne'a  Breviat,  p.  2.  Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  138.  Collier, 
vol.  ii.  p.  720. 

VOL.  I.  O 


194  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621. 

the  See  of  Exeter,  and  Dr.  Laud,,  whom  he  had  so 
zealously  opposed  in  this  promotion  to  the  See  of 
St.  David's.  Abbot,  in  consequence  of  this  fatal 
accident,  could  not  exercise  his  episcopal  functions 
until  cleared  of  his  irregularity;  and  the  bishops- 
elect,  with  the  exception  of  Dr.  Davenant,  objected 
to  his  consecration  until  the  affair  was  investigated. 
In  the  mean  time,  Bishop  Williams  dispatched  a 
letter  to  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  dated  July 
27,  1621,  informing  that  nobleman  of  the  affair  ; 
and  from  that  letter  we  may  at  once  perceive  that 
the  objections  of  Laud,  Casey,  and  himself,  on  the 
validity  of  Abbot's  consecration,  were  not  without 
warrant.  "  His  Grace,"  says  Dr.  Williams,  "  upon 
this  accident  is,  by  the  common  law  of  England, 
to  forfeit  all  his  estate  to  his  Majesty,  and  by  the 
canon  law,  which  is  in  force  with  us,  is  irregular, 
ipso  facto y  and  so  suspended  from  all  ecclesiastical 
functions,  until  he  be  again  restored  by  his  superior, 
which,  I  take  it,  is  the  King's  Majesty,  in  this 
rank  and  order  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. — I 
wish,  with  all  my  heart,  his  Majesty  may  be  as 
merciful  as  ever  he  was  in  all  his  life,  but  yet  I 
hold  it  to  be  my  duty  to  let  his  Majesty  know,  by 
your  Lordship,  that  his  Majesty  is  fallen  upon  a 
matter  of  great  advice  and  deliberation.  To  add 
affliction  unto  the  afflicted,  (as  no  doubt  he  is  in 
mind)  is  against  the  King's  nature ;  to  leave  virum 
sanguinum,  or  a  man  of  blood,  primate  and  patri- 
arch of  all  his  churches,  is  a  thing  that  sounds 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  195 

very  harsh  in  the  old  Councils  and  Canons  of  the 
Church.  The  Papists  will  not  fail  to  descant  upon 
the  one  and  the  other  Vs 

This  unfortunate  accident,  of  course,  excited  great 
interest,  and  there  were  some  about  the  court  who 
did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  the  primate's  situ- 
ation to  his  prejudice.  Laud,  however,  conducted 
himself  in  a  very  different  manner.  Although 
he  was  then  secure  in  the  royal  favour,  and  al- 
though Abbot  had  opposed  him  for  many  years, 
persecuted  him,  and  had  done  every  thing  to  wound 
his  reputation,  nevertheless  he  felt  too  much  of  the 
power  of  religion  to  take  this  advantage  over  his 
fallen  enemy.  His  scruples  about  consecration,  in 
common  with  his  brethren,  were  conscientious ;  but 
farther  than  this  he  did  not  interfere.  When  James 
heard  of  Abbot's  misfortune,  he  is  said  to  have  ob- 
served, that  "  an  angel  might  have  miscarried  in 
this  sort2;"  and  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  primate 
with  his  own  hand,  in  which  he  told  him,  that  "  he 
would  not  add  affliction  to  his  sorrow ;  or  take  one 
farthing  from  his  chattels  or  moveables,  which  were 
forfeited  by  law 3."  But  an  investigation  was  neces- 
sary ;  a  commission  was  issued  on  the  3d  of  Octo- 
ber to  Dr.  Williams,  Lord  Keeper,  the  Bishops 
of  London  and  Winchester,  the  Bishops-elect  of  St. 
David's  and  Exeter,  Sir  Henry  Hubbard,  Mr. 
Justice  Dodderidge,  Sir  Henry  Martin,  and  Dr. 

1  Letters,  apud  Heylin,  p.  80,  81.     It  appears  that  Williams 
had  an  eye  to  the  primacy  himself. — Cabala,  4to.  1654.  p.  56, 

2  Hacket,  p.  65.  3  Ibid.   ut.  sup. 

o  2 


196  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621. 

Steward,  to  institute  an  inquiry.  On  the  10th  No- 
vember they  returned  their  answer,  that  as  to  the 
Primate's  irregularity,  "  no  greater  part  of  their 
members  could  assent  or  agree,  because  the  canons 
and  decrees  themselves  are  so  general,  and  so  ready 
to  entertain  distinctions  and  glosses,  that  they  could 
not  come  to  an  unanimous  decision ;"  and  so  far  as 
scandal  was  concerned,  though  they  admitted  that 
it  might  give  offence  to  the  weak-minded  and  mali- 
cious, both  at  home  and  abroad,  most  of  them  be- 
lieved, that  "  there  was  no  scandal  given  by  the 
right  reverend  father ;"  and  they  were  finally  of 
opinion,  that  "  it  is  most  fitting  for  the  said  reve-  . 
rend  father,  both  in  regard  of  his  person,  and  the 
honour  of  the  Church,  to  sue  unto  his  most  gracious 
Majesty  for  a  dispensation  in  major  em  cautelam, 
si  qua  forte  fit  irregulariter  V 

A  pardon  was  accordingly  issued  to  the  Arch- 
bishop under  the  Great  Seal,  declaring,  him  free  of 
all  irregularity  and  defamation,  and  capable  of  exer- 
cising his  ecclesiastical  authority,  as  if  the  accident 
had  not  occurred.     Thus  ended  this  melancholy 
affair,  about  which  much  was  said  and  written  01 
both  sides 2 ;  and  on  which,  it  must  be  confessed, 
the  remarks  of  Collier  on  the  power  which  the  King 
assumed  are  not  without  foundation  8 .     Abbot  do< 


1  Sanderson's  Contin.  of  Rymer's  Foedera,  vol.  xvii.  p.  33' 
— 340.     Reliquiae  Spelmanuiae,  p.  107,  &c. 

2  Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  722,  723. 

5  Collier,  ut  sup.  p,  722,  723,  724,. 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  197 

not  seem  to  have  lost  the  favour  of  James  by  it,  nor 
was  his  courage  at  all  subdued ;  for  we  find  him,  in 
the  next  year,  vigorously  opposing  the  intended  alli- 
ance between  one  of  the  Spanish  princesses  and 
Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  although  he  knew  well 
the  King's  strong  inclination  towards  the  match l. 
He  settled  20L  a-year  upon  the  widow  of  the  man 
of  whose  death  he  had  been  the  innocent  cause, 
"  which,"  says  Fuller,  "  soon  procured  her  another 
husband2."  * 

Notwithstanding  the  royal  proclamation,  however, 
the  scruples  of  the  Bishops-elect  were  not  overcome, 
and  they  presented  a  petition  to  the  King,  entreat- 
ing that  his  Majesty  would  select  some  other  pre- 
lates to  assist  at  their  consecration,  as  they  still  felt 
a  reluctance  to  receive  it  from  the  hands  of  the 
Archbishop.  The  King  complied  with  their  request, 
and  issued  a  commission  to  the  Bishops  of  London, 
Oxford,  Ely,  Worcester,  and  Llandan^  to  act  in 
the  room  of  the  Primate.  Accordingly,  Dr.  Wil- 
liams, the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  consecrated  by 
those  prelates  on  the  llth  of  November,  in  Henry 
VII.'s  Chapel ;  and  on  the  18th,  Doctors  Laud,  Casey, 
and  Davenant,  were  consecrated  to  their  respective 

1  Heylin,  p.  111.  Sanderson,  p.  236.  550.  Rush  worth's 
Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  85.  88. 101.  438,  439.  Frankland's  An- 
nals of  King  James,  p.  80.  Parliamentary  History,  vol.  vi. 
p.  91,  &c.  Sir  Arthur  Wilson's  Court  and  Character  of  King 
James,  p.  175. 

5  Fuller's  Church  History,  hook  x.  p.  87. 


198  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621. 

dioceses  by  the  same  prelates,  in  the  Bishop  of 
London's  chapel.  Here  another  instance  of  Laud's 
magnanimity  and  uprightness  must  not  be  forgotten. 
The  day  before  his  consecration,  he  resigned  the 
Presidentship  of  St.  John's  College.  "  The  King 
gave  me  leave/'  says  he,  "  to  hold  the  Presidentship 
of  St.  John's  College,  in  Oxon,  in  commendam  with 
the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's ;  but,  by  reason  of  the 
strictness  of  that  statute,  which  I  shall  not  violate, 
nor  my  oath  to  it,  under  any  colour,  I  am  re- 
solved before  my  consecration  to  leave  it1."  Now, 
had  Laud  been  the  man  his  enemies  represented 
him,  desirous  of  power  and  influence,  nothing  could 
have  been  more  easy  for  him  than  to  have  retained 
his  office.  He  had  the  King's  authority  for  so  doing, 
and  his  situation  gave  him  an  importance  in  the 
University  necessary  for  him  to  maintain,  that  he 
might  repress  the  Calvinistic  extravagances ;  and 
his  bishopric  was  not  so  wealthy  but  that  he  might 
have  retained  it  with  justice,  without  the  charge  of 
avarice.  Yet  nothing  could  induce  him  to  violate 
an  oath,  to  act  against  the  dictates  of  his  conscience, 
or  to  sacrifice  his  religion  to  the  advancement  of  his 
worldly  importance 2.  Was  such  a  man  deserving 

1  Prynne,  in  his  Breviat,  p.  2,  maliciously  omits  the  last 
clauses. 

2  Dr.  Heylin,  p.  82,  has  here  fallen  into  an  error.     He  says, 
that  Laud  held  the  Presidentship  and  the  Bishopric,  and  later 
writers  have  followed  this  authority.     Of  course,  Heylin's  error 
can  be  easily  accounted  for.     Prynne  ransacked  Laud's  papers, 
and  concealed  the  originals,  whence  he  inserted  what  he  pleased. 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  199 

of  the  foul  reproaches  of  his  enemies,  who,  besides 
branding  him  with  every  thing  which  their  ingenuity 
and  craftiness  could  devise,  as  hostile  to  the  reformed 
religion,  alleged  that  he  was  a  mere  worldly  priest, 
and,  as  the  fanatical  Prynne,  clamoured  about  his 
great  preferments ;  whereas  he  resigned  many  of 
the  minor  benefices  he  possessed  before  his  elevation 
to  the  Episcopate  ? 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  on  the  conduct  of 
Laud  and  the  other  prelates,  in  objecting  to  Abbot's 
consecration.  When  we  reflect  on  Abbot's  circum- 
stances-, we  must  concede,  that  their  scruples, 
though  sincere,  were  utterly  groundless4,  for  they 
themselves  had  admitted,  that,  after  the  King's  par- 
don, he  could  lawfully  exercise  his  metropolitan 
functions.  No  man  can  be  deposed  from  the  minis- 
try of  the  Church  unless  he  commits  crimes  against 
the  state,  or  preaches  doctrines  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  holy  Scriptures.  Now,  Abbot  had  committed 
no  crime,  he  was  unconscious  of  his  misfortune  at 
the  time,  and  therefore  his  consecration  could  not  be 
irregular,  even  although  he  had  not  received  the 
King's  pardon ;  for  by  that  act  the  King  did  certainly 
assume  to  himself  a  power,  which  virtually  he  did 
not  possess ;  whereas  the  course  which  ought  to 
have  been  adopted  was  a  regular  trial  or  investiga- 
tion by  judges,  who  themselves  would  have  pro- 

Heylin's  work  was  published  in  1671,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
use  Prynne's  mutilated  edition  of  the  Diary,  published  in  1644. 
The  authentic  copy  was  published  in  1695.  Wharton's  Preface,, 
p.  1,  2.  and  Diary,  p.  4. 


200  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621. 

nounced  on  the  case.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten, 
that  though  the  bishops  did  perhaps  entertain  their 
scruples  without  foundation,  their  conduct  is  highly 
meritorious,  because  those  scruples  were  conscien- 
tious, and  not  resulting  from  any  private  dislike 
towards  the  primate,  while,  as  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  and  having  its  honour  and  advancement 
at  heart,  they  could  not  but  deplore  his  unhappy 
government.  They  made  Abbot  amenable  to  the 
civil  power,  and  from  that  source  he  was  exculpated. 
But  their  enemies,  the  Papists,  conduct  their  pro- 
ceedings very  differently  in  such  cases  :  they  make 
their  ecclesiastics  subject  to  no  civil  power,  and  this 
abominable  error  is  at  once  destructive  of  the  con- 
stitution of  government.  For  if  a  priest,  whether 
he  be  guilty  or  not,  is  to  be  tried  by  men  who  de- 
clare that  they  are  independent  in  themselves,  what 
security  is  there  against  tyranny  and  intolerance  ? 
The  history  of  the  Romish  Church  abundantly 
exemplifies  this  remark.  All  men,  whether  civil  or 
ecclesiastical,  are  members  of  the  state ;  therefore, 
they  must  be  subject  to  its  laws,  and  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  King,  who,  as  the  guardian  of  all  his  sub- 
jects, is  temporal  head  of  the  Church,  as  he  is  the 
head  of  the  State.  But  the  politics  of  Popery 
require  no  comment ;  and  it  rests  with  the  unpre- 
judiced mind  to  judge  what  anarchy  would  be  intro- 
duced were  these  politics  again  to  prevail. 

At  this  time,  and  previously,  we  find  Laud  in- 
dustriously employed  in  preaching  on  many  occa- 
sions, which  he  has  recorded  in  his  Diary.  The 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  201 

first  of  his  printed  sermons,  remarkable  for  its 
reasoning,  was  preached  before  the  King  at  Wan- 
stead,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1620.  On  the  24th  of 
March,  1621,  we  find  him  again  preaching  at  Court, 
and  this  sermon  was  commanded  to  be  published. 
It  is  the  second  of  his  published  discourses. 

Laud,  immediately  after  his  consecration,  being 
installed  into  his  diocese  by  proxy,  took  his  seat  in 
the  Parliament,  which  was  sitting  at  the  time.  The 
public  business  of  the  two  Houses,  however,  was  not 
of  great  consequence,  yet  in  this  Parliament  we 
cannot  fail  to  observe  the  symptoms  of  that  intole- 
rance by  which  they  afterwards  arrogated  to  them- 
selves the  exclusive  right  to  legislate  for  the  nation. 
The  intended  marriage  between  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  Infanta  of  Spain  was  then  dis- 
cussed, which,  though  it  was  never  destined  to  be 
accomplished,  it  being  defeated  in  another  quarter, 
engrossed  the  attention  of  the  King,  who  was 
greatly  inclined  to  the  alliance  from  political  mo- 
tives. The  King  demanded  fresh  supplies  from 
the  Commons,  but  the  zealots  among  them  had 
adopted  their  resolution.  Forgetting  that  the 
queen,  whoever  she  might  be,  was  only  an  indivi- 
dual in  the  nation,  and  subject  to  its  laws,  they 
transmitted  successive  addresses  to  the  King,  in 
which  they  expressed  their  alarm  at  the  growth  of 
Popery,  and  the  danger  of  an  alliance  with  a  Roman 
Catholic  Princess.  At  that  crisis,  perhaps,  those 
representations  were  not  without  foundation,  never- 
theless, they  acted  most  unconstitutionally  in  ad- 


202  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

vising  the  King  rather  to  make  war  against  Spain 
than  to  sanction  such  an  alliance.  The  influence 
of  Calvinism  among  the  members  had  made  such 
as  were  puritanically  inclined  so  fanatical,  as  to 
propose  that  no  connexion — not  even  those  relating 
to  the  rights  and  laws  of  nations,  should  be  formed 
with  any  princes,  save  Protestants, — a  proposition 
as  absurd  as  it  was  ridiculous  and  extravagant. 
James  saw  a  faction  growing  in  strength,  already 
arrayed  against  him ;  and  no  monarch,  perhaps, 
was  more  disagreeably  situated.  His  natural  love 
of  peace  made  him  at  all  times  decisive  on  that 
subject — a  policy  which  he  doubtless  carried  to 
excess,  inasmuch  as  the  glory  of  Britain  was  almost 
forgotten  by  the  continental  princes.  But  he  was 
never  in  a  condition  to  engage  in  war  ;  his  treasury 
was  poor,  his  resources  circumscribed,  and,  above 
all,  a  virulent  faction  against  him ;  it  became  him, 
therefore,  as  a  prudent  monarch,  to  guard  against 
the  fanaticism  of  the  times.  With  his  subjects  dis- 
united, and  many  of  them  under  the  influence  of 
wild  enthusiasm,  it  was  impossible  for  James  not 
to  reflect  without  serious  apprehensions  on  the  con- 
sequences of  war.  Moreover,  the  disputes  on  the 
continent  had  rendered  many  of  the  states  a  scene 
of  anarchy  and  strife.  His  son-in-law,  the  Elector, 
had  rashly  involved  himself  in  ruin ;  and  James 
could  afford  him  no  pecuniary  assistance :  it  was 
state  policy,  therefore,  when  he  beheld  a  porten- 
tous storm  gathering  on  the  continent,  to  form  an 
alliance,  which,  without  sacrificing  the  honour  of 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  203 

the  kingdom,  would  avert  the  danger  which  threat^ 
ened  the  speedy  destruction  of  his  children.  But 
James  unfortunately  could  not  calculate  on  the 
affections  of  his  people ;  nor  yet  could  his  prede- 
cessor Elizabeth,  notwithstanding  her  popularity 
and  vigorous  administration ;  and  hence  arose  the 
necessity  for  adopting  those  measures  which  are 
pretended  to  be  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  by  some 
of  the  sagacious  statesmen  of  modern  times,  who 
invariably  reason  from  their  own  consciousness, 
and  will  not  make  allowances  for  the  age,  and 
for  the  intrigues  of  Papists  and  Puritans,  against 
whom  those  sovereigns  had  to  contend.  England 
at  this  time  was  dissatisfied  :  the  Calvinists  had  dis- 
seminated their  tenets  among  the  people,  and  had 
inflamed  their  zeal  by  their  own  extravagant  ex- 
ample :  Scotland,  a  country  in  which  faction  had 
predominated  for  a  century,  was  now  in  a  state  of 
turbulence  by  the  exertions  of  the  Presbyterian 
leaders  :  and  but  little  assistance  could  be  derived 
from  Ireland,  a  country  whose  inhabitants,  being 
principally  Papists,  and  bigotted  to  a  proverb,  re- 
quired to  be  kept  in  subjection  by  the  strong  arm 
of  power,  more  especially  as  Tyrconnel's  rebellion 
had  not  been  long  restrained,  and  as  the  Papists 
were  as  intolerably  factious,  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  religion,  as  their  brethren  of  the  opposite 
extreme  in  England.  Let  us  only  look,  then,  at 
the  King's  situation.  He  made  no  encroachments 
on  the  liberties  of  the  Commons ;  they,  in  reality, 
had  at  that  period  greater  liberties  than  they  had 


201-  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621, 

ever  enjoyed  during  any  preceding  reign :  and  their 
conduct  towards  the  King  fully  justifies  the  conclu- 
sion, that  he  yielded  too  much  to  their  former  de- 
mands, while  they  were  beginning  to  forget  that 
there  were  other  two  estates  in  the  constitution  as 
essential  as  their  own  in  the  act  of  legislating  for 
the  nation.  With  a  people  whom  he  could  not 
trust,  and  a  Parliament  arrogating  to  itself  the 
power  of  an  independent  state  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  monarchy.,  no  resource  was  left  for  James 
but  to  exercise  his  prerogative,  which  he  did,  by 
adjourning  the  Parliament,  on  the  19th  of  Decem- 
ber, and  then  by  dissolving  it  on  the  8th  of  Ja- 
nuary. 

Not  one  of  the  many  opinions  formed  concerning 
this  procedure  at  the  time  seems  to  approach  the 
truth ;  for  James  acted  neither  from  natural  timi- 
dity, poverty,  nor  hatred  to  parliamentary  business, 
but  from  the  clear  discernment  which  he  possessed. 
He  felt  his  difficulties,  but  he  saw  misfortunes  ;  and 
he  therefore  adopted  the  only  measure  by  which 
he  could  frustrate  the  intensions  of  the  parliamen- 
tary faction.  And  though  James  was  wrong  in  the 
issue,  yet,  in  the  conduct  of  princes  we  are  not  so 
much  to  judge  of  their  actions  as  of  their  motives ; 
for  they  can  control  their  motives,  but  the  actions, 
as  effects  involved  in  comparative  uncertainty,  they 
cannot.  It  is  the  motive  or  will  which  criminates 
a  man,  whether  his  carrying  it  into  effect  succeeds 
or  not.  No  one  can  charge  James  with  a  design 
against  the  liberties  of  his  country,  as  if  he  wished 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  205 

to  overthrow  the  constitution,  ruin  the  Church,  and 
entrench  himself  in  arbitrary  power.  He  held  the 
reins  of  government  tightly,  because  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  do  so ;  but,  notwithstanding  all  the  asper- 
sions which  have  been  cast  upon  his  memory  for  his 
notions  of  his  own  prerogative,  it  remains  to  be 
proved  that  he  stretched  it  beyond  its  rightful 
limits.  If  he  was  severe  in  enforcing  the  discipline  of 
the  Church,  what  else  could  he  do,  when  he  saw  it 
surrounded  by  men  who  were  fondly  anticipating 
its  ruin  ?  Plots  in  succession  had  been  formed 
against  him,  from  the  daring  Gunpowder  treason 
to  the  minor  ones,  which  his  vigilance  counter- 
acted. He  had  been  repeatedly  excommunicated 
by  the  Pope,  and  the  Roman  Catholics,  of  course, 
were  in  league  with  the  Pontiff;  while  the  Puritans 
were  no  less  seditious  in  their  sermons,  their  pamph- 
lets, and  their  private  exhortations.  His  hatred  to 
the  Papists  was  not  surpassed  by  his  hatred  to  the 
Puritans,  more  particularly  as  he  saw  that  their 
claims  were  not  less  arrogant,  or  their  conduct  less 
intolerable.  The  proceedings  of  this  Parliament,  in 
fact,  proved  the  seditious  nature  of  its  enthusiasm, 
and  justified  the  remark  which  James  made  on  one 
occasion  on  the  Puritan  faction  in  general.  "  There 
never  was  a  faction,"  said  he,  "  during  the  times  of 
my  minority,  nor  trouble  since,  but  they  that  were 
upon  that  factious  part  were  ever  careful  to  persuade 
and  allure  those  unruly  spirits  among  the  ministry 
to  espouse  their  quarrels  as  their  own  ;  whereupon 
I  was  often  calumniated  in  their  popular  sermons, 
7 


206  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1621. 

not  for  any  evil  or  vice  in  me,  but  because  I  was  a 
King,  which  they  thought  the  greatest  evil." 

Such  was  the  nature  of  this  famous  Parliament, 
of  which  Bishop  Laud  was  a  member.  It  has  been 
said  that  Laud  was  no  statesman,  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  political  business,  that  he  had  no  talents 
for  affairs.  But  had  Laud  lived  in  an  age  when 
reason  prevailed  instead  of  enthusiasm,  and  mode- 
ration instead  of  fanatical  violence,  he  would  have 
been  as  great  at  the  helm  of  government  as  he 
was  in  the  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  distinguished 
ornament.  To  adopt  the  language  of  a  celebrated 
writer  of  the  present  day1,  whose  numerous  incon- 
sistences,  however,  will  not  be  forgotten,  "  there 
is  no  middle  course  in  dealing  with  religious  secta- 
ries, between  the  persecution  that  exterminates  and 
the  toleration  that  satisfies."  To  them,  as  to  the 
Roman  Catholics,  who  are  most  noted  schismatics, 
nothing  can  be  conceded  which  will  satisfy  their 
demands  ;  the  more  concessions  they  receive,  the 
greater  ingenuity  they  exercise  in  inventing  fresh 
claims.  But  short  as  the  sitting  of  this  Parliament 
was,  and  it  only  sat  one  month,  Laud  saw  enough 
to  convince  him  of  the  intentions  of  those  who 
traduced  and  injured  their  sovereign.  Popery  and 
Puritanism  were  the  two  extremes  between  which 
the  Church  of  England  was  situated,  both  openly 
opposed  to  it,  but  the  danger,  as  the  event 
proved,  was  not  so  threatening  from  the  former, 

,:*•  *  Mr.  Hallam,  in  his  Constitutional  History  of  England. 


1621.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  207 

as  the  latter.  Forgetting  esssential  doctrines  in 
religion,  the  Puritans  eagerly  contended  for  what 
they  admitted  were  in  themselves  of  little  con- 
sequence. "  The  Puritans,"  says  Heylin,  whom  I 
quote  at  length,  as  the  remarks  are  indisputable, 
"  seeing  they  had  no  more  prevailed  against  the 
Church  by  their  open  batteries,  than  the  Roman 
Emperors  had  done  against  the  primitive  Church  by 
their  persecutions,  resolved  upon  more  secret  and 
consequently  more  dangerous  practices,  to  attain, 
their  ends.  In  order  whereunto,  they  had  perpe- 
tually alarmed  the  King,  from  his  first  coming  to 
the  crown,  with  continual  dangers  from  the  Papists, 
for  which  the  Gunpowder  treason  gave  them  too 
much  reason.  Nor  would  they  suffer  any  session 
of  Parliament  to  pass,  from  that  time  forward,  in 
which  the  dangerous  practices  of  priests,  Jesuits, 
&c.  did  not  sound  in  his  ears.  And  this  they  did, 
not  so  much  because  they  saw  any  such  visible 
growth  of  Popery  as  was  by  them  pretended  from 
time  to  time,  but  that  they  thought  it  the  best  way 
to  carry  on  the  other  projects  which  they  had  in 
hand.  For  well  they  knew  that  when  the  thoughts 
both  of  King  and  people  were  totally  engrossed  by 
the  dangers  which  were  feared  from  the  Papists, 
the  Puritan  party,  in  the  mean  time,  might  gather 
strength,  without  being  noted  or  observed." 

After  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  Laud  pro- 
ceeded to  his  diocese,  to  make  a  pastoral  inspection 
of  its  affairs :  and,  in  the  mean  time,  as  a  farther 
increase  to  his  revenues,  the  King  gave  him,  in 


208  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

commendam,  the  Rectory  of  Creeke,  in  Northamp- 
tonshire l.  In  his  primary  visitation  he  manifested 
his  accustomed  care  for  the  Church,  by  taking 
cognizance  of  the  parishes  in  that  extensive  diocese, 
repairing  the  churches,  and  generously  appropri- 
ating his  revenues  towards  the  laudable  purpose  of 
rendering  them  commodious  and  comfortable  for 
the  celebration  of  divine  service.  His  own  chapel 
he  built  and  fitted  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  con? 
dition,  solemnly  consecrating  it  himself  for  the 
worship  of  God,  according  to  the  Form  of  the  vene- 
rable and  learned  Bishop  Andrews,  which  act  was 
afterwards  recorded  by  his  enemies,  as  an  addi- 
tional proof  of  the  charges  they  brought  against 
him 2 ;  so  natural  is  it  for  fanatics  to  take  advan- 
tage of  every  thing,  falsely  to  condemn  what 
they  cannot  refute,  and  reckon  the  crazy  effusions 
of  their  brains  as  absolute  truth,  while  they  cannot 
substantiate  a  single  assertion. 

The  building  and  consecrating  of  this  chapel 
were  not  completed  till  some  years  afterwards ; 
but  in  the  mean  time  this  active  prelate,  having 
arranged  the  affairs  of  his  diocese,  returned  to 
London  on  the  15th  of  August,  1622,  and  waited 
on  the  King.  While  Laud  was  at  Court,  the 
Puritans  endeavoured  to  give  an  indication  of  their 
intentions  as  gently  as  possible,  yet  merely  by  way. 
of  trial.  A  member  of  Pembroke  College,  Oxford, 


1  Diary,  p.  4.  6.     Heylin,  p.  96. 

2  Canterburie's  Doome,  by  Prynne,  p.  504. 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  209 

named  Knight,  in  a  sermon  on  Palm  Sunday,  April 
14,  1622,  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  from  Rom.  xiii.  1. 
"  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers," 
set  forth  the  genuine  tenets  of  Puritanism,  that  the 
inferior  magistrate  has  power  to  order  and  correct 
the  king,  if  he  acts  in  error ;  in  other  words,  that 
subjects  may  rise  in  rebellion  when  they  think 
themselves  aggrieved.  This  dogma,  maintained 
by  Calvin,  who  often  from  the  pulpit  threatened 
the  magistrates  of  Geneva  with  an  insurrection,  if 
they  did  not  yield  to  his  desires,  and  vigorously  set 
forth  by  Knox  and  others  in  Scotland,  this  pro- 
tege of  the  faction  divided  into  four  heads,  in  which 
he  justified  resistance: — 1.  When  the  chief  magis- 
trate turns  tyrant :  2.  When  he  forces  blasphemy 
or  idolatry  upon  his  subjects.  3.  When  intolerable 
burdens  are  laid  upon  them.  And,  4.  When  re- 
sistance is  the  only  expedient  to  save  themselves, 
and  to  obtain  their  objects.  These  dangerous  and 
seditious  opinions,  true  only  in  particular  cases, 
and  under  great  restrictions,  the  genuine  essence 
of  enthusiasm,  were  more  especially  calculated  to 
inflame  the  nation  at  this  time;  for  though  none  of 
them  could  be  charged  on  the  King,  nevertheless 
they  would  be  received  with  exultation  by  the 
Puritans,  and  turned  to  their  own  advantage. 
Knight  was  called  to  account  for  his  opinions  by 
the  Vice-chancellor  of  the  University,  and  compelled 
to  deliver  a  copy  of  the  sermon.  Laud  was  then 
with  the  King,  and,  at  the  command  of  James,  the 
preacher  was  cited  to  court,  and  the  sermon  was 
VOL.  i.  p 


210  LIFE' AND  TIMES  [1622. 

also  transmitted.  Knight  confessed  that  he  had 
taken  his  illustrations  from  the  work  of  a  foreign 
Calvinist l,  and  that  he  had  advanced  them  without 
calculating  the  consequences ;  but  he  protested 
that,  with  regard  to  himself,  he  had  preached 
the  sermon  without  any  political  motive,  and  that 
he  was  heartily  sorry  for  what  he  had  done. 
His  apology  was  received  by  the  King,  who  saw 
that  the  tenets  were  not  so  much  his  own  as  the 
tenets  of  those  around  him  ;  and,  perceiving  in 
him  indications  of  genius,  dismissed  him  with  a 
salutary  admonition.  The  Puritans,  however,  spe- 
culated so  much  on  the  affair,  that  it  was  found  ne- 
cessary to  take  further  steps.  The  book  of  Pareus 
was  publicly  burnt  at  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and 
at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  London,  by  the  common  exe- 
cutioner ;  its  dogmas  were  declared  seditious  and 
treasonable;  and,  to  put  a  stop  at  once  to  the 
fanaticism  of  the  Puritans  in  the  University,  an  oath 
was  framed,  which  every  one  was  called  to  sub- 
scribe, declaring  that  he  renounced  and  disbelieved 
the  dangerous  principles  of  that  book, — that  they 
were  utterly  subversive  of  the  Church  and  State, — 
and  that  he  would  oppose  them  to  the  utmost  of 
his  ability  during  his  life 2. 

1  A  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  by  Pareus, 
a  minister  of  Heidelburgh. 

2  "  Was  there  ever,"  exclaim  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennett, 
"  so  unreasonable  and  so  absurd  an  oath  devised  ?    It  seems  to 
have  been  the  determined  resolution  of  Archbishop  Bancroft  to 
crush  at  once  the  religion  of  the  Puritans  and  the  liberties  of  the 
nation."     A  few  remarks  may  be  offered  to  these  worthy  secta- 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  211 

But  it  was  found  necessary  to  take  other  mea- 
sures.    Hitherto  I  have  abstained  from  making  any 

rian  writers,  or  at  least,  to  their  enthusiastic  admirers.  As  to 
their  question,  it  would  require  little  research  into  history  to 
answer  it,  hut  as  it  is  impossible  to  digress  continually  to  expose 
the  falsehoods  and  sophistry  of  Neal,  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Ben- 
nett, and  their  great  authority,  Warner,  I  must  refrain.  Yet 
I  could  prove  to  them,  that  the  Puritans  violated  the  most  so- 
lemn oaths,  that  they  persuaded  others  to  do  so,  and,  more- 
over, that  their  seditious  sermons  and  pamphlets  rendered 
oaths  more  "  unreasonable  and  absurd"  than  the  above  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Let  the  following  effusion  from  a  Puri- 
tan pamphlet  suffice.  "  As  to  you,  dear  brethren,  whom  God 
hath  called  into  the  brunt  of  the  battle,  the  Lord  keep  you 
constant,  that  ye  yield  neither  to  toleration,  neither  to  any  subtle 
persuasions  of  dispensations  and  licences,  which  are  to  fortify 
these  Romish  practices,  but,  as  ye  fight  the  Lord's  fight,  be 
valiant."  These  writers,  moreover,  have  charged  Bancroft 
with  this  oath  ;  by  which  they  display  their  utter  ignorance  of 
history.  If  they  require  to  be  told  it,  Bancroft,  whom  they  so 
much  vilify,  died  in  1610,  and  this  affair  took  place  in  1622, 
and  under  the  primacy  of  their  favourite,  Abbot.  It  is  de- 
plorable to  see  men  writing  about  facts  which  they  have  never 
investigated,  and  setting  down  any  thing  to  serve  their  own 
purposes.  But  if  they  must  have  the  truth,  Bancroft  did  at- 
tempt "  to  crush  the  religion  of  the  Puritans,"  but  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  Puritanism  and  British  liberty  are  one  and 
the  same.  He  nobly  wished  to  check  the  extravagant  fanati- 
cism of  those  Calvinistic  malcontents,  and  Bancroft  was  gifted 
with  more  penetration  than  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennett.  The 
religion  of  the  Puritans!  what  was  it?  Rhodomontade,  en- 
thusiasm, eternal  quibblings  on  trifles,  hatred  to  the  King 
and  government,  gloomy  Calvinism,  zeal  for  Geneva,  intoler- 
ance, and  obstinacy  ;  in  short,  it  was  such  as  the  present  age,  it 
is  admitted  even  by  Dissenters,  would  not  endure.  And  as  to 
their  religion  being  identified  with  the  "  liberties  of  the  nation," 

P2 


212  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

observations  on  the  sermons  of  the  Puritans,  nor  do 
I  now  intend  to  enlarge  on  this  copious  subject ;  yet 
I  may  remark,  that  they  partook,  of  course,  of  the 
known  extravagance  of  their  authors.  The  havoc 
which  their  opinions  were  making  among  the 
younger  students  and  the  people  was  notorious ; 
some  of  the  former  had  turned  Papists,  some  had 
become  infected  with  the  heresy  of  the  Anabap- 
tists, some  had  turned  Brownists  or  Independents, 
and  all  of  them  incessantly  intermeddled  with  affairs 
of  state,  and  passed  their  seditious  verdicts  of  cen- 
sure with  the  most  undisguised  assurance ;  while 
the  people  were  imbibing  with  avidity  the  fanaticism 
which  they  heard  inculcated.  But  the  doctrines  of 
Calvin  were  chiefly  in  the  mouths  of  the  preachers ; 
the  abstruse,  and  fanciful,  and  daring  dogmas  of 
predestination,  election,  reprobation,  irresistibility 
of  grace,  and  final  perseverance,  themes  which  ought 
never  to  be  introduced  into  popular  sermons  even  by 
a  supporter  of  them,  as  being  by  far  too  profound 
for  the  capacities  of  a  popular  (or  indeed  any)  audi- 
ence, in  which  the  great  majority  are  illiterate,  and 
which,  besides  their  contradiction  to  the  Scriptures, 
have  the  most  dangerous  effect  upon  the  mind.  For 
where  is  he  who  can  prove  what  he  calls  the  divine 
\  decree  I  Most  daring  indeed  is  that  man  who  pre- 
|  tends  to  scan  the  ways  of  Omnipotence,  and  to  set 

who  requires  to  be  told  of  the  state  to  which  their  cunning  in- 
trigues reduced  this  kingdom  when  they  obtained  the  mastery, 
of  the  blood  which  they  shed,  the  murders  they  committed,  under 
the  sacred  names  of  religion  and  liberty  ? 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  213 

limits  to  divine  grace ;  who  forgets  that  "  secret 
things  belong  to  the  Lord  our  God  alone,"  and  who 
pretends  that  he,  a  short-sighted,  frail,  and  erring 
mortal,  has  discovered  the  will  of  Heaven ;  that  in- 
fants and  full-grown  men,  ages  before  they  are  born, 
were  doomed  to  eternal  punishment  for  Adam's 
transgression,  by  a  divine  decree,  which  they  could 
not  alter.  Most  impious  is  he  who  thus  sets  limits 
to  the  mercy  of  Heaven,  and  makes  the  God  of  love 
appear  as  an  implacable  tyrant ;  mocking  the  crea- 
tures he  has  made,  offering  them  salvation,  punish- 
ing them  if  they  do  not  accept  of  it,  and  yet  who 
has  decreed  from  all  eternity,  that  salvation  shall 
not  be  theirs.  Most  guilty  is  he  who  thus  contracts 
the  efficacy  of  Christ's  redemption,  and  asserts,  that 
the  death  of  our  divine  Saviour  is  not  the  ground  of 
hope  to  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam's  degene- 
rate offspring,  who  sincerely  repents  and  unfeignedly 
believes  God's  holy  gospel.  Need  I  stop  to  reflect 
on  the  tendency  which  such  preaching  must  have 
had  on  the  minds  of  the  people  in  that  fierce  age  of 
religious  contention  ?  or  need  I  enter  into  any  meta- 
physical argument  to  shew  how  destructive  these 
tenets  are  to  the  spread  of  pure  and  undefiled  reli- 
gion, and  to  the  peace  and  well-being  of  civil 
government  ?  The  history  of  that  age  furnishes  too 
many  melancholy  illustrations.  Let  the  reader  only 
turn  to  the  daring  actions  of  the  English  Puritans 
under  Charles  I.  which  they  planned  during  his 
father's  life-time ;  let  him  look  to  the  reign  of  fana- 
ticism under  Cromwell,  that  patron  of  sectaries ;  let 


214  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G22. 

him  turn  to  the  achievements  of  the  Covenanting 
religionists  of  the  north,  to  their  rebellions,  their 
enthusiasm,  their  insolence  to  their  rulers,  their 
canting  sermons,  their  almost  impious  prayers,  and 
their  irreverent  "  familiaritie"  with  the  Majesty  of 
Heaven.  Let  the  reader  ponder  well  the  intolera- 
ble arrogance  of  those  religionists,  who,  like  their 
brethren,  the  Papists,  alleged  that  they  were  the 
only  true  Church,  excommunicated  all  who  differed 
from  them,  and  swore  solemn  oaths,  that  with  the 
sword)  and  without  mercy,  they  would  extirpate 
Popery,  Prelacy,  Arminianism,  Erastianism,  &c. 
as  their  precious  record  of  treason,  entitled  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  sets  forth  :  who  in- 
variably spoke  with  the  most  intolerable  insolence 
of  their  rightful  governors,  and  who  more  than  once 
acted  as  vile  assassins,  when  it  was  in  their  power. 
And  then  let  the  reader  trace  the  history  of  the  Dis- 
senters in  the  last  century,  when  he  will  find  Soci- 
nianism,  Arianism,  and  Infidelity,  making  dreadful 
havoc  among  them.  It  is  at  times  dangerous  and 
hazardous  for  one  poor  sinner  to  denounce  damna- 
tion from  the  pulpit  to  his  hearers,  when  perhaps  he 
has  as  much  need  of  repentance  as  they,  and  at  all 
times  it  must  be  done  with  solemn  caution ;  but  it 
is  doubly  presumptuous  for  erring  and  frail  men  to 
pretend  to  scan  the  ways  of  Heaven,  and  assert, 
with  the  most  positive  assurance,  the  dogmas  of 
election  and  reprobation. 

To  counteract  these  principles,  so  pregnant  with 
disastrous  consequences,  the  king,  not  unlikely  by 

7 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  215 

the  advice  of  Laud,  issued  a  letter  to  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury  and  York,  bearing  date  the 
20th  of  August,  1622,  and  by  them  to  be  commu- 
nicated to  their  suffragans,  containing  sundry  rules, 
which  they  were  enjoined  to  put  in  execution.  This 
letter  commences  thus  :  "  Most  reverend  father  in 
God,  right  trusty  and  right  entirely  beloved  counsel- 
lor, we  greet  you  well.  Forasmuch  as  the  abuses  and 
extravagances  of  preachers  in  the  pulpit  have  been 
at  all  times  passed  in  this  realm  by  some  act  of 
council  or  state,  with  the  advice  and  resolution  of 
grave  and  learned  prelates,  insomuch  as  the  very 
licensing  of  preachers  had  beginning  by  an  order  of 
Star-chamber  the  8th  day  of  July,  in  the  19th  year 
of  King  Henry  VIII.  our  noble  predecessor :  and 
whereas  at  this  present  divers  young  students,  by 
reading  of  late  writers  and  ungrounded  opinions, 
do  broach  mriny  times  unprofitable,  infamous,  sedi- 
tious, and  dangerous  doctrines,  to  the  scandal  of 
this  Church,  and  disquieting  of  this  state  and  pre- 
sent government,  upon  humble  representations  of 
this  inconveniency  to  yourself  and  sundry  others, 
&c.  Given  at  Windsor,  4th  Aug.  in  the  20th  year 
of  our  reign  V 

The  directions  were  six  in  number,  and  are  in- 
serted in  various  historical  works 2.  The  nature  of 
them  may  be  easily  conceived,  yet  the  moderation 


1  Collection  of  MSS.  vol.  i.  p.  85.     Tho.  Cant. 

2  Heylin,  p.   93,  94.     Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  137.     Rushworth's 
Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  64,  05,  G6. 


216  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

of  the  language  is  remarkable.  In  the  third  direc- 
tion it  is  set  forth,  "  That  no  preacher  of  what  title 
soever  under  the  degree  of  a  bishop,  or  dean  at  the 
least,  do  from  henceforth  presume  to  preach  in  any 
popular  auditory  the  deep  points  of  predestination, 
election,  reprobation,  or  of  the  universality,  effi- 
cacy, resistibility,  or  irresistibility,  of  God's  grace  ; 
but  rather  leave  those  themes  to  be  handled  by 
learned  men,  and  that  modestly  and  moderately  by 
use  and  application,  rather  than  by  way  of  positive 
doctrine,  as  being  fitter  for  schools  and  universities 
than  for  simple  auditories."  And  the  fifth  declares, 
"  That  no  preacher,  of  what  title  or  denomination 
soever,  shall  causelessly,  and  without  any  invitation 
from  the  text,  fall  into  any  bitter  invectives  and  in- 
decent railings  against  the  Papists  or  Puritans,  but 
wisely  and  gravely,  when  they  are  occasioned  there- 
unto by  the  text  of  Scripture,  free  both  the  doctrine 
and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  from  the 
aspersions  of  either  adversary,  especially  when  the 
auditory  is  suspected  to  be  tainted  with  the  one  or 
the  other  infection." 

The  directions  were  of  course  levelled  against  the 
Puritans,  and  made  the  faction  excessively  clamor- 
ous l.  But  the  activity  of  the  Church  succeeded  in 
silencing  those  malecontents 2,  notwithstanding  the 
pains  they  took  to  excite  the  people  by  visionary 
fears 3.  And  the  observation  of  Fuller  is  quite  suffi- 

1  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  137,  138. 

2  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  x.  p.  111. 

3  Heylin,p.  94. 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  217 

cient  on  the  subject,  for  these  directions  were  highly 
necessary  at  a  time  when  "  many  shallow  preachers 
handled  the  profound  points  of  predestination, 
wherein,  pretending  to  guide  their  flocks,  they  lost 
themselves  V 

The  situation  of  the  Church  at  this  period  was 
truly  hazardous.  Attacked  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
Papists,  and  on  the  other  by  the  Puritans,  it  re- 
quired the  greatest  skill  in  those  who  regarded  the 
interests  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  welfare  of 
Church  and  State,  to  restrain  the  hostile  intentions 
of  those  factions.  No  sooner  had  the  Parliament 
been  dissolved,  than  the  Papists  began  to  exert 
themselves  with  the  greatest  activity.  The  Puri- 
tans were  chiefly  popular  among  the  lower  classes, 
who  were  sufficiently  illiterate,  and  were  generally 
treated  with  contempt  by  the  higher  orders  of  the 
kingdom.  The  Papists,  however,  who  could  also 
reckon  a  considerable  number  of  adherents  among 
the  rabble,  were  more  ambitious,  and  endeavoured 
to  secure  adherents  among  the  nobility.  For  this 
purpose  they  laid  a  most  crafty  plot,  and  began  first 
to  practise  on  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham,  the  lady 
of  the  celebrated  court  favourite  ;  not  doubting, 
that  if  they  were  successful  in  inducing  her  to  re- 
cant, they  might  have  some  chance  of  favour  for 
their  tenets  from  her  husband.  The  famous  John 
Fisher,  the  Jesuit,  had  undertaken  the  task  of  ma- 

1  Fuller,  ut  sup.  p.  108. 


218  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

naging  the  lady,  and  he  had  succeeded  so  well,  that 
she  was  beginning  to  think  favourably  of  the  super- 
stition. But  the  Jesuit's  designs  were  reported  to 
the  king,  who  was  himself  not  wanting  in  ability  to 
argue  the  matter,  and  who  frequently  discoursed  to 
her  on  the  subject.  James,  however,  feeling  inte- 
rested in  the  lady,  and  resolving  to  silence  the 
Jesuit  at  once  by  fair  argument,  advised  the  Duke 
to  appoint  a  conference  between  Fisher  and  a 
learned  divine  of  the  Church,  on  the  errors  of  the 
Romish  superstition.  The  Duke  agreed,  and  Dr. 
Francis  White,  then  Rector  of  St.  Peter's,  Corn- 
hill,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ely,  was  appointed  to 
meet  the  Jesuit l.  Three  disputes  were  held  in  the 
presence  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  his  mother, 
his  lady,  and  the  Lord  Keeper  Williams,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  1622,  the  last  was  conducted  by  Laud. 
The  result  was  as  might  have  been  expected :  Laud 

1  This  learned  man  had  acquired  no  small  popularity  by  his 
divinity  lectures  in  St.  Paul's,  of  which  he  was  reader,  in  preach- 
ing against  the  absurdities  of  Popery  :  and  he  was  profoundly 
learned  in  all  points  of  theological  controversy.  He  was  en- 
gaged to  meet  Fisher  in  the  presence  of  the  Duke  (then 
Marquis,)  and  his  mother  ;  but  one  meeting  not  being  suffi- 
cient, another  was  appointed  at  which  the  King  himself  was 
present.  In  the  second  conference,  nothing  had  been  said 
on  the  dogma  of  an  infallible  church,  which,  says  Heylin, 
"  was  the  chief  and  only  point  in  which  the  party  doubting 
required  satisfaction."  The  King  then  appointed  a  third 
meeting,  in  which  Laud  was  nominated  to  oppose  Fisher, 
instead  of  Dr.  White. 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  219 

was  more  than  a  match  for  the  Jesuit  in  learning, 
and  victory  was  declared  on  the  side  of  truth '. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  give  an  abstract  of  Laud's 
admirable  arguments.  An  account  of  the  confer- 
ence was  published  in  1624,  and  a  justification  of 
it  published  by  the  Archbishop  himself  in  1637,  in 
connexion  with  a  pamphlet  written  by  Dr.  Francis 
White,  entitled,  "  A  Reply  to  Jesuit  Fisher's  An- 
swer to  certain  Questions  propounded  by  his  most 
gracious  Majesty  King  James."  The  ingenuity  with 
which  Laud  detects  the  Jesuist's  sophistry,  the  pro- 
found learning  which  he  displays,  and  the  intimate 
acquaintance  which  he  appears  to  have  had  with  the 
Fathers  and  Councils  of  the  Church,  prove  the  great- 
ness of  his  genius,  and  his  devotion  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. "  In  this  discourse,"  says  he,  "  I  have  no  aim 
to  displease  any,  nor  any  hope  to  please  all.  If  I 
can  help  on  the  truth  in  the  Church,  and  the  peace 
of  the  Church  together,  I  shall  be  glad,  be  it  in  any 
measure.  Nor  shall  I  spare  to  speak  necessary 
truth,  out  of  too  much  love  of  peace ;  nor  thrust  an 
unnecessary  truth  to  the  breach  of  that  peace  which, 
once  broken,  is  not  so  easily  renewed  again.  And 
if,  for  necessary  truth's  sake  only,  any  man  will  be 
offended,  nay  take,  nay  snatch  at,  the  offence  which 
is  not  given,  for  that  I  know  no  protection.  It  is 
truth,  and  I  must  state  it ;  it  is  the  gospel,  and  I 
must  preach  it,  1  Cor.  xi.  16.  And  far  safer  it  is 

There  is  an  account  of  this  Jesuit,  whose  real  name  was 
Perse,  or  Persey,  in  "  Bibliotheca  Scriptorum  Societatis  Jesu," 
Romae,  167G,  p.  487. 


220  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

in  this  case  to  bear  anger  from  men,  than  a  woe  from 
God.  And  where  the  foundations  of  faith  are 
shaken,,  be  it  by  superstition  or  profaneness,  he  that 
stretches  not  out  his  hand  as  firmly  as  he  can  to  sup- 
port them,  is  too  wary,  and  hath  more  care  of  him- 
self than  of  the  cause  of  Christ :  and  it  is  a  wariness, 
that  brings  more  danger  in  the  end  than  it  shuns. 
For  the  angel  of  the  Lord  issued  out  a  curse  against 
the  inhabitants  of  Meroz,  because  they  came  not  to 
help  the  Lord,  to  help  the  Lord  against  the  mighty, 
Judges,  v.  23.  I  know  it  is  a  great  ease  to  let  every 
thing  be  as  it  will,  and  every  man  believe  .and  do 
as  he  lists  :  but  whether  governors  in  State  or 
Church  do  their  duty  therewhile  is  easily  seen,  since 
this  is  an  effect  of  no  king  in  Israel." 

Such  is  the  eloquence  of  this  great  prelate,  who 
was,  when  he  wrote  the  above,  in  the  See  of  Can- 
terbury. This  is  the  man  whom  his  enemies 
charged  as  being  a  Papist,  these  are  the  sentiments 
of  him  whom  sectarians  have  traduced  as  being 
of  "  infamous  memory."  But  I  will  proceed  to  ano- 
ther extract,  which  I  am  certain  the  reader  will 
peruse  with  interest,  while  here  considering  one 
of  the  most  splendid  actions  of  Laud's  life.  "  Now 
one  thing  more,"  says  Laud,  "  let  me  be  bold  to 
observe  to  your  Majesty  in  particular,  concerning 
your  great  charge  in  the  Church  of  England.  She 
is  in  hard  condition.  She  professes  the  ancient 
Catholic  faith,  and  yet  the  Romanist  condemns  her 
for  novelty  in  her  doctrine.  She  practises  church 
government  as  it  hath  been  in  use  in  all  ages,  and 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  221 

all  places,  where  the  Church  of  Christ  hath  been 
established  both  in  and  since  the  days  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and  yet  the  separatist  condemns  her  for  anti- 
christianism  in  her  discipline.  The  plain  truth  is, 
she  is  between  these  two  factions,  as  between  two 
millstones,  and  unless  your  Majesty  look  to  it,  to 
whose  trust  she  is  committed,  she  will  be  ground 
to  powder,  to  an  irreparable  dishonour  and  loss  to 
this  kingdom.  And  it  is  very  remarkable,  that 
while  both  these  press  hard  upon  the  Church  of 
England,  both  of  them  cry  out  against  perse- 
cution, like  froward  children,  who  scratch,  and 
kick,  and  bite,  and  yet  cry  out  all  the  while,  as  if 
they  were  killed.  Now,  to  the  Romanist  I  shall 
say  this :  The  errors  of  the  Church  of  Rome  are 
grown  now  (many  of  them)  very  old,  and  when 
errors  are  grown,  by  age,  and  continuance,  to 
strength,  they  which  speak  for  the  truth,  though  it 
be  of  an  older,  are  usually  challenged  for  the 
bringers  in  of  new  opinions.  And  there  is  no 
greater  absurdity  stirring  this  day  in  Christendom, 
than  that  the  reformation  of  an  old  corrupted 
Church,  whether  we  will  or  not,  must  be  taken  for 
the  building  of  a  new.  And  were  not  this  so,  we 
should  never  be  troubled  with  that  idle  and  imper- 
tinent question  of  theirs,  Where  was  your  Church 
before  Luther?  for  it  was  just  there,  where  theirs 
is  now  :  /me  and  the  same  Church  still,  no  doubt  of 
that ;  one  in  substance,  but  not  one  in  condition  of 
state  and  purity :  their  part  of  the  same  Church 
remaining  in  corruption,  and  our  part  of  the  same 


222  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

Church  under  reformation.  The  same  Naaman, 
and  he  a  Syrian  still ;  but  leprous  with  them,  and 
cleansed  with  us :  the  same  man  still.  And  for  the 
separatist,  and  him  that  lays  his  grounds  for  sepa- 
ration, or  change  of  discipline ;  though  all  he  says, 
or  can  say,  be,  in  truth  of  divinity,  and  among 
learned  men,  little  better  than  ridiculous ;  yet  since 
those  fond  opinions  have  gained  some  ground  among 
the  people,  to  such  among  them  as  are  wilfully  set 
to  follow  their  blind  guides  through  thick  and  thin, 
till  they  fall  into  the  ditch  together,  I  shall  say  no- 
thing. But  for  so  many  of  them  as  mean  well,  and 
are  only  misled  by  artifice  and  cunning,  concerning 
them  I  shall  say  thus  much  only,  they  are  bells  of 
passing  good  metal,  and  tunable  enough  of  them- 
selves, and  in  their  own  disposition ;  and  a  world  of 
pity  it  is,  that  they  are  rung  so  miserably  out  of  tune 
as  they  are  by  them  who  have  acquired  power  in  and 
over  their  consciences.  And  for  this  there  is  remedy 
enough,  but  how  long  there  will  be  I  know  not." 

"  The  Scripture,"  continues  Laud,  in  another 
place,  "  where  it  is  plain,  should  guide  the  Church ; 
and  the  Church,  where  there  is  doubt  or  difficulty, 
should  expound  the  Scripture :  yet  so,  as  neither 
the  Scripture  should  be  forced,  nor  the  Church  so 
bound  up,  as  that,  upon  just  and  farther  evidence, 
she  may  not  revive  that  which  in  any  case  hath  slept 
by  her.  What  success  the  great  distemper,  caused 
by  the  collision  of  two  such  factions,  may  have,  I 
know  not,  I  cannot  prophesy.  And  though  I  can- 
not prophesy,  yet  I  fear  that  atheism  and  irreligion 


1622.-]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  223 

gather  strength,  while  the  truth  is  thus  weakened 
by  an  unworthy  way  of  contending  for  it.  And 
while  they  thus  contend,  neither  party  consider  that 
they  are  in  a  way  to  induce  upon  themselves  and 
others  that  contrary  extreme,  which  they  both  seem 
to  oppose  and  to  fear.  The  Catholic  Church  of 
Christ  is  neither  Rome  nor  a  conventicle ;  out  of 
that  there  is  no  salvation,  I  easily  confess  it ;  but 
out  of  Rome  there  is,  and  out  of  a  conventicle  too. 
Salvation  is  not  shut  up  into  such  a  narrow  conclave. 
In  this  discourse  I  have,  therefore,  endeavoured  to 
lay  open  those  wider  gates  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
confined  to  no  age,  time,  or  place,  not  knowing  any 
bounds,  but  that  faith  which  was  once,  and  but 
once  for  all,  delivered  to  the  saints.  And  in  my 
pursuit  of  this  way,  I  have  searched  after,  and  deli- 
vered with  a  single  heart,  that  truth  which  I  pro- 
fess. In  the  publishing  whereof  I  have  obeyed  your 
Majesty,  discharged  my  duty,  to  my  power,  to  the 
Church  of  England,  given  account  of  the  hope  that 
is  in  me,  and  so  testified  to  the  world  that  faith  in 
which  I  have  lived,  and  by  God's  blessing  and  favour 
purpose  to  die l." 

1  A  Relation  of  the  Conference  between  William  Laud,  then 
Lord  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  now  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  Fisher  the  Jesuit,  by  the  command  of  King  James  of 
ever-blessed  memorie.  With  an  Answer  to  such  Exceptions  as 
A.  C.  takes  against  it.  By  the  said  Most  Rev.  Father  in  God, 
William,  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  folio.  London,  1639. 
Introductory  Dedication  to  Charles  I.  The  last  edition  of  this 
admirable  work,  now  almost  forgotten,  appeared  in  1673. 


224 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1622. 


The  points  which  Dr.  White  discussed  with  the 
Jesuit,  were  the  usual  differences  between  the 
Romish  and  the  Reformed  Church.  The  Jesuit 
defended,  1.  Praying  to  images.  2.  Prayers  and 
oblations  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  3.  Wor- 
shipping and  invocations  of  Saints  and  Angels. 
4.  The  Liturgy  and  private  prayers  for  the  igno- 
rant in  an  unknown  tongue.  5.  The  repetition  of 
paternosters,  aves,  and  credos,  especially  affixing 
a  kind  of  merit  to  the  number  of  them.  6.  The 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation.  7.  Communion 
under  one  kind,  and  the  abetting  of  it  by  conco- 
mitancy.  8.  Works  of  Supererogation,  especially 
with  reference  to  the  treasures  of  the  Church.  9. 
The  opinion  of  deposing  kings,  and  giving  away 
their  kingdoms  by  papal  power,  whether  directly 
or  indirectly.  Dr.  White,  as  a  reward  for  his  merit, 
was  made  royal  chaplain,  and  Dean  of  Carlisle. 
His  work  displays  his  erudition.  On  the  above 
dogmas  Laud  entered  with  his  usual  ability ;  the 
Jesuit  was  defeated,  and  Laud's  enemies  were  con- 
founded. And  yet  so  modest  was  the  prelate,  that, 
though  this  is  a  work  which  will  justly  entitle  him 
to  the  gratitude  of  posterity,  and  which,  as  was 
declared  by  his  enemies,  is  unequalled,  far  less 
surpassed,  he  at  first  prefixed  to  it  the  initials  R.  B. 
(Dr.  Richard  Bailey,  the  name  of  one  of  his  cha] 
lains,  who  afterwards  married  his  niece,)  and  merel; 
published  it  as  an  Appendix  to  Dr.  White's  work. 
And  though  Prynne,  who  caught  at  every  thing, 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  227 


CHAPTER  VII. 


1622—1625. 

Laud's  connexion  with  the  Duke  of  Buckingham — Notice  of  that 
favourite — The  Prince  of  Wales — 'Intended  marriage  with  the 
Infanta — His  journey  to  Spam  with  Buckingham — TJieir  ad- 
ventures— False  assertions  of  Laud's  enemies — Zeal  of  Arch- 
bishop Abbot — Insolence  of  the  Papists — Cunning  intrigues 
of  Bishop  Williams — Enmity  to  Laud — Conduct  of  the  Arch- 
bishop towards  Laud — Instances  of  Laud's  piety — Meeting  of 
the  Parliament — Remarkable  conduct  of  Abbot — Opposition 
of  Laud  to  Buckingham — Moderation  of  that  nobleman — 
Negotiations  with  France — Death  of  James  /. — His  character 
— His  conduct  towards  Scotland — The  Book  of  Sports — De- 
fence of  James — His  cliaracter  by  Archbishop  Spottiswoode. 

THE  conduct  of  Bishop  Laud,  in  his  Conference 
with  the  Jesuit,  was  the  commencement  of  an  inti- 
mate friendship  between  him  and  the  Marquis 
(afterwards  Duke)  of  Buckingham1.  That  cele- 
brated favourite,  whose  life  was  so  brilliant,  and 
whose  death  was  so  melancholy,  inclined  though  he 
was  to  splendour  and  gaiety,  could  nevertheless  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  a  man  of  learning  and  genius, 
whose  integrity  was  conspicuous  in  all  his  actions. 

1  Diary,  p.  5.  "  June  9,  being  Whitsunday,  my  Lord  Mar- 
quis of  Buckingham  was  pleased  to  enter  upon  a  near  respect  for 
me.  The  particulars  are  not  for  paper." 

Q2 


228  J.IFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

The  favours  which  Buckingham  had  received  at 
Court,  his  extraordinary  advancement  and  influ- 
ence, and  the  ascendancy  which  he  had  acquired 
over  the  King,  are  facts  indeed  remarkable,  yet  he 
was  no  worthless  minion,  neither  was  he  altogether 
undeserving  of  his  good  fortune ;  and,  though  he 
certainly  exalted  the  members  of  his  own  family, 
and  his  dependents,  yet  it  was  not  with  a  view  to 
establish  himself  more  securely  at  Court,  since  he 
was  there  supported  solely  by  his  own  genius l.  He 
has  been  traduced  as  licentious  and  profligate  by 
many,  and  thence  have  they  taken  occasion  to  infer, 
that  while  he  was  the  Prince's  confidant  and  com- 
panion, Charles'  life,  like  his  own,  was  not  the 
most  virtuous 2 :  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that 

1  MS.  Sir  Simon  D'Ewes'  Account  of  Himself.  Harleian 
Library. 

a  Historia  Vitae  et  Regni  Ricardi  II.  ab  auct.  T.  Hearne, 
p.  404.  In  this  work  there  is  a  letter  from  the  Prince  to  the 
Duke,  from  which  it  appears  that  he  was  a  confidant  in  an  in- 
trigue of  the  former.  It  is  to  the  following  effect : — 

"  Steanie,  I  have  nothing  now  to  wryte  to  you,  but  to  give  you 
thankes  bothe  for  the  good  councill  ye  gave  me,  and  for  the  event 
of  it.  The  King  gave  me  a  good  sharp  potion,  but  you  took  away 
the  working  of  it  by  the  well-relished  comfites  ye  sent  after  it. 
I  have  met  with  the  party  that  must  not  be  named,  once  alreddie, 
and  the  cullor  of  wrighting  this  letter  shall  make  me  meete  with 
her  on  Saturday,  although  it  is  written  the  day  being  Thursday. 
So  assuring  you  that  the  business  goes  safelie  now,  I  rest  your 
constant  loving  friend,  CHARLES. 

"  I  hope  ye  will  not  shew  the  King  this  letter,  but  put  it  in  the 
safe  custodie  of  Mister  Vulcan." 

Hearne  informs  us,  that  this  letter  is  reported  to  have  at  one 

•2  p 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  229 

while  his  favour  at  Court  made  him  unpopular, 
and  his  natural  courage  too  often  haughty  and 
unrelenting1,  his  conduct  was  distinguished  by 
many  imprudences.  Whatever  may  have  been 
his  errors,  certain  it  is  that  he  regarded  his  lady 
with  fond  affection,  and  he  evinced  his  attachment 
towards  her  at  his  death  by  the  most  indubitable 
proofs2. 

The  friendship  which  Buckingham  conceived 
for  Laud,  induced  him  to  appoint  the  Bishop  his 
chaplain  on  the  15th  of  June,  1622,  and  from  him 
he  received  the  sacrament  at  Greenwich  on  the 
following  day 3.  Next  month  we  find  Laud  making 

time  been  in  the  possession  of  Archbishop  Sancroft,  and  that  it  is 
the  only  amour  in  which  the  Prince  was  known  to  have  been  con- 
cerned. 

1  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  fol.  vol.  i. 

2  Sir  Henry  Wotton's  Life  of  the  Duke. 

3  Diary,  p.  5.     Prynne's  Breviate,  p.  3.     In  his  Diary,  Laud 
says,  "  I  became  C.  to  my  lord  of  Buckingham  ;"  and  Prynne, 
therefore,  to  establish  his  Popish  insinuations,  says,  that  he  be- 
came Confessor.     Allowing  this  to  be  the  case,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  word  "  Confessor"  has  no  other  meaning  than  the 
Popish  one,  or  that  which  is  attached  as  connected  with  the 
functions  of  the  Romish  ecclesiastics ;  but  whether  the  Bishop 
meant  so  or  not,  may  be  justly  questioned.     The  letter  C  is  all 
that  he  expresses,  and  it  may  as  well  mean  Chaplain.     Heylin 
(p.  96)  has  adopted  the  word  Confessor,  because  he  had  used 
Prynne's  corrupted  edition  of  the  Diary. — Abbot  observed  this 
intimacy  with  uneasiness  and  jealousy,  Narrative,  apud  Rush- 
worth's  Col.  vol.  i.  p.  440.     "  This  man,"  says  he,  "  is  the  only 
inward  counsellor  with  Buckingham,  sitting  with  him  sometimes 
privately  whole  hours,  and  feeding  his  humour  with  spite  and 
malice." 


230  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  diligently  preaching,  and 
arranging  the  affairs  of  his  extensive  see,  and  re- 
turning from  Wales  to  London  in  the  ensuing 
August.  He  remained  in  London  in  attendance 
at  the  Court,  preaching  at  various  places  in  the 
city,  until  the  27th  of  January,  when  he  left  the 
metropolis,  and  was  inducted  into  the  rectory  of 
Creeke,  near  Peterborough,  on  the  31st, — a  bene- 
fice which  the  King  had  given  him  in  commendam l. 
On  the  5th  of  February,  we  find  him  again  with  the 
King  at  London,  and  he  informs  us  that  he  received 
a  book  from  his  Majesty,  written  by  a  Capuchin 
friar,  who  had  been  once  a  Protestant,  proving 
from  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
where  an  account  is  given  of  St.  Paul's  vision, 
that  the  body  of  Christ  had  been  actually  in  two 
places  at  once 2.  On  the  9th  of  February,  the 
Bishop  returned  it  to  the  King,  with  his  own  re- 
marks upon  it,  and  on  that  day  we  find  him  hold- 
ing his  first  ordination,  which  he  has  piously  re- 
corded s. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  negotiations  were  pro- 
ceeding for  Charles'  marriage  with  the  Infanta — 
which  James  had  vigorously  prosecuted,  in  the 
hope  that  by  it  the  Palatinate  would  be  recovered 
for  his  son-in-law.  But  the  Spanish  armies  and 
their  allies  had  committed  the  most  dreadful  ra- 
vages in  the  country  of  the  unfortunate  Elector, 

1  Diary,  p.  6.  '  Ibid,  ut  sup. 

9  Ibid,  ut  sup.  "  Promovi  Edmundum  Provant  Scotum  in 
Presbyterium.  Primogenitus  meus  fuit  in  Domino." 


16S3.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  231 

contrary  to  their  professions  of  amity  and  peace, 
and  had  left  that  prince  only  the  towns  of  Heidel- 
burg,  Frankendale,  and  Meinhem,  which  owned  his 
authority.  James,  displeased  with  the  conduct  of 
the  Spanish  monarch,  and  wearied  with  the  anxieties 
of  delay,  was  resolved  that  the  intended  treaty  should 
either  be  completed  at  once  or  annulled.  For  this 
purpose  it  was  planned  that  the  Prince  should  pro- 
ceed to  Spain  in  disguise,  and  leave  England  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  Court  and  the  English 
Council.  Charles  eagerly  embraced  the  design, 
for  besides  his  being  as  intent  on  the  marriage  as 
the  King,  several  circumstances  occurred  which 
made  him  more  anxious  for  the  journey.  Accordingly 
he  set  out,  accompanied  only  by  Buckingham  and 
Sir  Richard  Graham,  Buckingham's  Master  of  the 
Horse.  The  affair  was  known  only  to  a  very  few 
persons  at  Court  in  the  confidence  of  the  King,  of 
whom  Laud  was  one,  whom  Buckingham  left  as  his 
confidential  agent  and  correspondent  while  he  was 
abroad. 

Buckingham  has  received  the  merit  of  contriving 
this  extraordinary  and  hazardous  adventure, — ha- 
zardous, certainly,  when  we  reflect  on  the  conse- 
quences which  might  have  attended  the  discovery 
of  the  Prince's  rank  while  abroad.  Lord  Claren- 
don informs  us,  that  the  Duke's  great  favour  with 
the  King,  had  almost  made  him  forget  his  duty  to 
the  Prince,  whom  one  day  he  almost  attacked  with 
personal  violence,  for  which  conduct  the  Prince  was 
greatly  enraged  ;  and  that  he  planned  this  journey 


232  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

to  recover  his  affection,  in  which  he  succeeded  to  his 
wish.  The  adventures  of  the  Prince  and  his  two  com- 
panions on  the  way  are  not  less  extraordinary.  They 
set  out  on  Tuesday,  Feb.  18,  from  a  house  belong- 
ing to  Buckingham  at  Newhall,  in  Essex,  with  false 
beards,  and  assuming  the  names  of  Thomas  and 
John  Smith.  When  they  were  crossing  the  Thames 
at  Gravesend,  they  discovered  that  they  had  no 
silver,  upon  which  they  presented  the  waterman 
with  gold.  The  poor  man  was  so  astonished  and 
overjoyed  at  his  unusual  good  fortune,  and  so 
grieved  that  such  gentlemen,  as  they  appeared, 
should  be  journeying,  as  he  thought,  to  the  Con- 
tinent to  decide  a  private  quarrel,  that  he  could 
not  refrain  from  acquainting  the  authorities  of  the 
town  with  his  suspicions.  They  sent  after  the  tra- 
vellers as  far  as  Rochester  to  stop  them,  but  the 
Prince  and  his  companions  did  not  halt  in  that  city. 
When  they  were  on  Clapham  Hill,  they  were  again 
in  danger  of  discovery,  by  the  appearance  of  the 
French  ambassador,  with  the  King's  coach,  and 
some  of  the  royal  household,  but  they  passed  from 
the  high  road  through  fields,  leaping  hedges  and 
ditches,  till  they  were  out  of  sight.  At  Canter- 
bury, some  suspicious  rumours  had  preceded  them, 
and  the  Mayor  attended  in  person,  alleging,  that 
he  had  a  warrant  to  arrest  them  on  suspicion, 
first,  from  the  council;  secondly,  from  Sir  Lewis 
Lewknor,  Master  of  the  Ceremonies ;  and,  thirdly, 
from  Sir  Henry  Manwaring,  Lieutenant  of  Dover 
Castle.  This  fictitious  speech  was  delivered  in  a 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  233 

ludicrous  manner,  and  Buckingham  could  not  retain 
his  gravity  ;  but  at  length  he  discovered  himself, 
and  informed  the  Mayor,  that  he  was  proceeding 
privately  with  two  attendants  to  take  a  secret  view 
of  the  King's  fleet,  to  observe  in  what  state  of 
forwardness  it  was,  some  preparations  being  then 
making  for  service.  As  Buckingham  was  Admi- 
ral, he  was  readily  believed,  and  was  accordingly 
permitted  to  depart.  After  they  left  the  city,  how- 
ever, a  post-boy,  who  had  been  frequently  at  Court, 
discovered  who  they  were,  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  bribe  him  to  silence.  They  arrived  at 
Dover  at  six  in  the  evening,  where  Sir  Francis  Cot- 
tingham,  secretary  to  the  Prince,  and  Mr.  Endy- 
mion  Porter,  were  in  attendance.  They  had  been 
sent  before  to  provide  a  vessel,  and  they  joined  the 
party ; — Porter  being  admitted  as  confidential  ser- 
vant, from  his  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language, 
and  his  popularity  in  Spain,  whither  he  had  been 
in  an  official  capacity.  They  all  embarked  at  six 
the  following  morning,  and  landed  at  Boulogne 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  whence  they 
proceeded  to  Montreuil  that  night,  where  they 
slept,  and  arrived  at  Paris  the  next  day.  The 
Prince  spent  a  whole  day  in  viewing  the  city  and 
the  court,  and  he  and  Buckingham  more  effectually 
disguised  themselves  by  purchasing  large  periwigs, 
which  concealed  their  foreheads.  They  beheld  the 
King  and  Queen  without  discovery,  though  Cad- 
met,  who  had  been  ambassador  to  England,  was 
in  attendance.  In  the  evening,  overhearing  some 


234  LIFE  AND  TIMES  11622. 

persons  discoursing  about  a  mask  to  which  they 
were  going,  at  which  the  Princesses  were  to  be 
present,  they  joined  the  crowd,  and  were  admitted 
by  the  Duke  de  Montba9on,  the  Queen's  cham- 
berlain, from  civility  to  strangers ;  and  here  the 
Prince  first  saw  the  beautiful  Henrietta  Maria,  his 
future  queen,  with  the  dauphiness  and  other  ladies. 
It  has  been  asserted  that  he  was  captivated  by  her  on 
this  occasion,  but  this  is  not  the  case  :  it  is  certain, 
however,  that  she  excited  his  admiration,  and  that, 
as  the  issue  proved,  he  did  not  forget  this  occa- 
sion. The  travellers  left  Paris  about  three  on  the 
following  morning,  and  proceeded  to  Bayonne,  the 
last  town  on  the  frontiers  of  France,  having  pre- 
viously purchased  some  articles  of  dress  at  Bour- 
deaux.  Here  Cottingham  was  employed  to  prevent 
their  being  entertained  by  the  Duke  D'Espernon, 
by  informing  him  that  they  were  of  low  extraction, 
and  unaccustomed  to  politeness.  It  was  Lent,  and 
there  was  no  animal  food  to  be  got  at  the  inns,  but 
meeting  with  a  flock  of  kids  near  Bayonne,  the 
Prince  shot  one  of  them,  for  which  he  satisfied  the 
goat-herd,  and  succeeded  in  conveying  it  to  their 
lodgings  unobserved.  While  at  Bayonne,  they  were 
carefully  observed  by  the  famous  Count  de  Gram- 
mont,  the  lieutenant  of  that  frontier,  who  sus- 
pected that  they  were  in  disguise,  yet  he  allowed 
them  to  pass  without  examination.  We  are  in- 
formed, however,  that  the  French  Court  having  got 
notice  of  the  quality  of  their  visitors,  sent  messen- 
gers after  them  to  stop  them,  but  they  had  already 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  235 

passed  into  Spain.  Four  days  after  they  left 
Bayonne,  they  arrived  at  Madrid,  and  proceeded 
to  the  house  of  the  English  ambassador,  the  Earl 
of  Bristol.  Buckingham,  who  went  by  the  name 
of  Thomas  Smith,  first  entered  the  house,  carrying 
a  portmanteau,  and  then  John  Smith,  (the  Prince,) 
was  called,  who  was  waiting  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  street.  They  were  afterwards  received  by 
the  Spanish  Court  with  great  hospitality,  but 
Buckingham  conducted  himself  so  haughtily  to  the 
Prince,  and  so  insolently  to  the  Spanish  favourite, 
the  Duke  de  Olivarez,  that  his  behaviour  was  one 
of  the  causes  why  this  match  was  frustrated l. 

This  journey  has  been  called  accidental,  and  Sir 
Simon  D'Ewes  declares,  that  none,  except  the  King, 
knew  the  Prince's  resolution.  "  Their  going,"  says 
he,  "  was  so  secret,  that  none,  I  believe,  in  England 
knew  it  till  they  were  in  France  2."  The  utmost 
concern  was  evinced  by  the  English  nation  for  the 
Prince's  safety,  and  the  Puritans  were  not  behind  in 
their  declamations  about  Popery  and  Popish  inclina- 
tions. Nor  did  Laud  escape,  for,  as  he  had  been  left 
by  the  Duke  as  his  agent  at  court,  it  was  well  known 
that  he  corresponded  with  Buckingham,  and  he  was 
charged  with  being  privy  to  the  whole  design.  The 
travellers  were  declared  to  have  gone  into  Spain  for 
the  purpose  of  betraying  their  religion,  with  the 
King's  consent ;  and  Laud,  who  was  frequently  at 

1  Howell's  Letters,  vol.  i.  sect.  3.     No.  xv.  xvi.  &c.  edit. 
1650.     Strafford's  Letters,  vol.  i. 

2  Life  of  Sir  Simon  D'Ewes,  fol.  67. 


236  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

the  Court,,  heard  the  old  scandal  revived,  with  double 
violence,  against  himself.  Now,  that  the  King, 
while  he  was  anxious  for  the  success  of  this  matri- 
monial alliance,  was  no  less  careful  about  the  re- 
formed religion,  appears  most  evident  from  all  the 
documents  on  the  subject,  and  particularly  by  the 
instructions  he  gave  to  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  negotiation,  in  which  he  says, 
"  The  matter  of  religion  is  to  us  of  most  principal 
consideration,  for  nothing  can  be  to  us  dearer  than 
the  honour  and  safety  of  the  religion  we  profess : 
and  therefore,  seeing  that  this  marriage,  if  it  shall 
take  place,  is  to  be  with  a  lady  of  a  different  religion 
from  us,  it  become th  us  to  be  tender,  as  on  the  one 
part,  to  give  them  all  satisfaction  convenient ;  so  on 
the  other,  to  admit  nothing  that  may  blemish  our 
conscience,  or  detract  from  the  religion  here  esta- 
blished1." But  this  monarch's  language  was  so 
studiously  perverted  by  many,  that  they  actually 
contrived  to  force  other  meanings  on  the  words 
than  they  really  conveyed.  The  conduct  of  the 
Prince  while  in  Spain,  in  duly  attending  the  Pro- 
testant worship,  notwithstanding  his  public  com- 
munications with  the  Popish  powers,  is  a  sufficient 
argument  against  those  who  believe  these  insi- 
nuations2. 

As  to  Laud's  share  in  the  transaction,  Prynne  de- 
clares, in  his  publication  of  the  Breviat,  that  he  was 


1  Apud  Heylin,  p.  98,  99.  Hidden  Works  of  Darkness,  p.  34. 

2  Life  of  Laud,  p.  100,  101. 


1623.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  237 

privy  to  the  Prince's  journey  into  Spain,  which  was 
purposely  plotted  to  pervert  him  to  the  Popish  reli- 
gion, which  he  assumes  from  the  Earl  of  Bristol's 
impeachment  of  the  Duke  in  1626.  This  he  endea- 
vours to  make  evident,  from  a  prayer  which  Laud 
composed  on  the  occasion,  and  which,  had  he  only 
read  it,  would  have  completely  silenced  him  on  that 
cavil1.  It  is  also  charged  against  him,  that  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  Buckingham,  the  fifth  day 
after  his  departure  ;  that  he  was  a  party  to  some 
expressions  which  the  King  had  used  to  the  Prince 
before  he  left  the  Court ;  and,  as  James,  in  some 
of  his  productions,  had  called  the  Pope  Antichrist, 
by  which  a  barrier  might  arise  in  procuring  the 
Pope's  dispensation  for  the  marriage,  that  the  King 
urged  the  Prince  to  declare,  that  he  had  written 
nothing  on  that  point  but  by  way  of  argument2. 
Now,  this,  which  Prynne  imagined  to  be  quite  conclu- 
sive, completely  refutes  himself;  for  it  is  undeniable 
that  the  King  could  only  affirm  that  the  Pope  was 
Antichrist  by  way  of  argument.  If  the  King  said, 
"  the  Pope  was  Antichrist,"  he  made  an  assertion 
which  he  was  called  upon  to  prove ;  for  the  Pope 
and  his  defenders  denied  it  in  toto :  there  was  only, 
then,  an  assertion,  and  how  could  the  King  prove  it 
in  any  other  way  than  by  argument  ?  If  Laud  was 
present  at  this  interview,  which  is  doubtful,  what 


1  Breviate,  p.  14. 

2  Canterburie's   Doome,   by  Prynne,   p.  276,   and  Hidden 
Works  of  Darkness,  p.  34,  35. 


238  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

reasonable  objection  could  he  make  to  the  King's 
assertion,  seeing  that  he  had  confuted  the  Jesuit 
solely  by  argument  ?  But  the  assertions  of  Prynne 
are  nugatory ;  for,  though  he  wrote  to  Bucking- 
ham the  fifth  day  after  the  Prince's  departure,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  whole  affair  was 
then  no  longer  a  secret,  but  that  it  was  publicly 
known  over  all  England :  and  besides,  the  letters 
which  he  received  from  the  Duke  contain  not  the 
slightest  foundation  for  the  assertion.  But  how 
absurd  is  it  to  say,  that,  because  Laud  was  acquainted 
with  the  King's  observation  to  the  Prince,  therefore 
he  was  one  of  the  cabinet-council!  as  if  there 
were  no  other  methods  for  a  man  in  Laud's  situa- 
tion to  become  acquainted  with  a  fact,  than  by  being 
personally  present.  Might  not  the  King  himself 
inform  Laud  after  his  departure  ?  Might  not  Laud 
be  informed  by  the  Prince  after  his  return  ?  There 
were,  in  truth,  many  ways  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  it,  without  such  a  necessity.  "  Yet  this  whole 
passage,"  says  the  fanatical  Puritan,  "  was  known 
to  him  (Laud),  and  he  privy  to  this  secret,  not 
known  formerly  to  others  ;  therefore,  he  was  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  privy  council  who  was  privy  to 
the  Prince's  going  into  Spain,  and  to  the  private 
instructions  given  him  by  King  James  before  his 
departure :  yea,  very  likely,  one  that  suggested  this 
distinction  to  King  James,  to  please  the  Pope,  and 
promote  the  match,  and  therefore  he  could  not  but 
speak  with  the  King  about  it,  who  hereupon  com- 
manded this  Bishop  to  qualify  his  expressions  in 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  239 

these  particulars,  and  so  not  to  differ  from  the  known 
judgment  of  his  pious  and  learned  father,  from  whose 
orthodox  judgment,  notwithstanding,  the  Arminians 
might  freely  dissent  both  from  his  Majesty's  and 
this  arch-prelate's  approbation ;  after  which  we  may 
infallibly  conclude,  from  his  (Laud's)  own  pen,  that 
all  the  forementioned  purgations  of  passages  against 
the  Papacy,  Pope,  and  his  being  Antichrist,  were 
made  by  this  Archbishop's  own  especial  direction, 
without  any  other  suggestion  than  his  own  Romish 
genius  and  good  affection  to  the  Pope,  to  induce  a 
more  easy  reconciliation  with  him  V  But  had  this 
fanatic  not  been  hurried  away  by  his  constant  love 
of  scribbling,  he  might  have  saved  himself  the  trou- 
ble to  prove  that  the  Pope  is  Antichrist  from  these 
absurd  premises ;  but  the  Prynnes,  and  Pyms,  and 
other  worthies  of  that  age,  were  phrenzied  by  their 
enthusiasm,  and  unable  to  reason  from  the  fierce- 
ness of  their  hatred  to  the  Church,  though  they  had 
facts  before  them  which  required  no  demonstra- 
tion. 

Charles  scarcely  ever  saw  the  Infanta  while  he 
was  in  Spain ;  and  at  last  the  whole  affair  ended  in 
an  open  rupture.  On  this  occasion,  however,  hap- 
pened the  cause  of  the  dispute  between  Laud  and 
Bishop  Williams,  the  Lord  Keeper,  which  ended  in 
the  disgrace  of  the  latter.  The  King,  while  the 
Prince  was  absent,  not  wishing  altogether  to  inflame 
the  Popish  recusants,  who,  by  the  representations 

1  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  276. 
7 


240  LIFE  AND  TIMES 


of  their  emissaries,  could  make  an  ample  retaliation 
by  securing  the  Prince,  relaxed  the  seventy  of  those 
laws  which  were  in  force  against  them.     It  was  not 
long  before  the  Puritans  began  their  clamour,  as  if  the 
King  had  actually  intended  to  establish  the  Romish 
Church,  never  reflecting  that  the  relaxing  of  a  law 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  its  total  abrogation. 
And  the  extreme  facility  with  which  they  found  means 
to  express  their  visionary  alarms,  was  equalled  by 
the  patronage  which  they  received.     A  letter  was 
immediately   addressed  by  Archbishop   Abbot   to 
the  King,  in  which  he  denounced  the  negotiation, 
declared   against   toleration,    and    prophesied   the 
wrath  and  judgment  of  God  upon  the  whole  nation. 
This  letter  would  have  been  well  enough,  had  it 
been  appropriate  ;  but  the  author  was  completely 
mistaken.     "  I  have  been  too  long  silent,"  says  the 
primate,  "  and  am   afraid,  by  my  silence,   I  have 
neglected  the  duty  of  the  place  it  hath  pleased  God 
to  call  me  unto,  and  your  Majesty  to  place  me  in. 
Your  Majesty  hath  propounded  a  toleration  of  reli- 
gion ;  I  beseech  you  to  take  into  your  consideration 
what  your  act  is,  and  what  the  consequence  may  be  ; 
by  your  act  you  labour  to  set  up  the  most  damnable 
and  heretical  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the 
whore  of  Babylon  !    And  hereunto  I  add,  what  you 
have  done,  in  sending  the  Prince  into  Spain,  with- 
out consent  of  your  council,  the  privity  and  appro- 
bation of  your  people  :  and  although  you  have  a 
charge  and  interest  in  the  Prince,  as  son  of  your 
flesh,  yet  have  the  people  a  greater,  as  son  of  this 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  241 

kingdom,  upon  whom,  next  after  your  Majesty, 
are  their  eyes  fixed,  and  welfare  depends,  and  so 
tenderly  is  his  going  apprehended,  as,  believe  it, 
however  his  return  may  be  safe,  yet  the  drawers  of 
him  into  this  action,  so  dangerous  to  himself,  so 
desperate  to  the  kingdom,  will  not  pass  away  un- 
questioned, unpunished. — What  dreadful  conse- 
quences these  things  may  draw  afterwards,  I  be- 
seech your  Majesty  to  consider,  and,  above  all,  lest 
by  this  toleration,  and  discountenancing  of  the 
true  profession  of  the  gospel,  wherewith  God  hath 
blessed  us,  and  this  kingdom  hath  so  long  flourished 
under  it,  your  Majesty  do  not  draw  upon  this 
kingdom  in  general,  and  yourself  in  particular, 
God's  heavy  wrath  and  indignation1." 

Whether  Abbot  was  really  the  author  of  this 
letter  may  be  questioned ;  yet  it  cannot  be  denied, 
from  the  extract  given  above,  that  the  language  is 
extraordinary.  As  I  have  just  said,  had  there,  even 
in  that  hazardous  age,  been  any  warrant  for  its 
assertions,  it  would  have  been  completely  justifiable, 
nor  would  Abbot  have  done  his  duty  as  governor 
of  the  Church,  had  he  allowed  any  thing  like  an 
emancipation  of  the  Papists  to  pass  unobserved 
without  opposition.  But  Abbot  well  knew  that 
toleration  is  widely  different  from  emancipation, 
and.  that  a  mere  protection  is  not  equivalent  to  a 
full  removal  of  all  disabilities,  and  a  formal  recog- 
nition of  the  Romish  Church.  He  knew,  moreover, 

'  Rush  worth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  85. 
VOL.  I.  R 


242  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1622. 

that  nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  King's  inten- 
tions than  to  patronise  the  Papists — men,  who,  like 
the  Puritans,  were  continually  intriguing  against 
him;  the  very  nature  of  whose  religion,  because  they 
held  certain  mischievous  dogmas,  was  faction  and 
conspiracy,  or  intolerable  arrogance  and  presump- 
tion. And,  as  it  is  impossible  to  recognise  Popery, 
without  admitting  the  Pope's  supremacy,  he  did 
not  require  to  be  told  the  mind  of  the  King  on  that 
subject.  He  knew  that  the  King  was  tenacious  of 
his  prerogative  to  a  proverb,  and  he  loved  it  too 
well,  as  Dr.  Heylin  remarks,  "  to  quit  any  part 
thereof  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and,  consequently, 
to  part  with  that  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters, as  he  must  have  done  by  a  toleration,  which 
he  esteemed  the  fairest  flower  in  the  royal  ga.rland." 
He  knew,  besides,  that  the  Papists  would  disdain 
yielding  obedience  to  James,  inasmuch  as  their 
dangerous  politics  denounced  him  at  once,  if  he 
would  not  do  homage  to  the  Pontiff.  And,  in 
fine,  Abbot  knew  that  the  King  had  repeatedly  de- 
clared, that  he  would  defend  the  Church  of  England 
till  his  dying  day ;  that  he  would  leave  religion 
established  as  he  found  it ;  that  he  had  been  fight- 
ing, since  the  day  of  his  Accession,  to  restrain,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  absurdities  of  Popery,  and  on 
the  other,  the  intolerable  extravagances  of  Puri- 
tanism. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  Abbot  was  not  the 
author  of  this  letter,  but  that  it  was  an  effusion  of 
the  Puritan  faction,  who  had  borrowed  his  name 
7 


1622.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  243 

to  give  it  greater  authority  l.  But  when  we  re- 
collect that  the  Primate  had  all  along  been  held  as 
the  head  and  patron  of  those  zealots, — that  he  had 
through  life  manifested  the  greatest  anxiety  for  the 
prevalence  of  Calvinism,, — and  that  he  admitted 
into  the  Church  those  men  who  afterwards  betrayed 
it,  there  is  no  reason  to  adopt  this  opinion.  Yet 
it  is  remarkable,  that  though  Abbot  was  actually 
concerned  in  this  letter,  he  afterwards  signed  the 
articles  of  marriage,  nay,  was  the  first  who  did  so, 
and  thus  countenanced  an  alliance  which  he  had 
said  would  incur  the  vengeance  of  heaven,  and  that, 
too,  in  the  face  of  this  very  toleration,  against 
which  he  had  so  violently  protested2. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  perhaps,  after  all,  it  was 
hardly  a  matter  of  prudence,  though  one  of  state 
policy,  to  propose  this  toleration,  as  the  event 
proved.  For  no  sooner  had  the  Papists  got  the  idea, 
than  they  began,  as  usual,  to  conduct  themselves 
with  insolence.  The  Pope  presumed  to  nominate 
bishops  to  all  the  dioceses  in  England,  that  they 
might  exercise  episcopal  jurisdiction,  as  his  bishops 
do  at  this  day  in  Ireland ;  and  issued  various  orders 
to  his  emissaries  to  be  indefatigable  in  the  spread 
of  the  superstition.  But  Dr.  Williams,  having  got 
notice  of  this,  instantly  acquainted  the  King,  who, 
enraged  at  the  presumption  of  this  nomination,  and 
viewing  it  both  as  an  encroachment  on  his  prero- 

1  Heylin's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  105,  106. 

2  Life  and  Reign  of  James,  p.  60.     Sanderson,  p.  550. 

R  2 


244  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G23. 

gative,  and  as  taking  advantage  of  his  own  good- 
ness, at  once  ended  his  negotiations  with  the  Court 
of  Rome. 

The  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  during  his  absence, 
had  been  advanced  to  ducal  honours,  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  Bishop  Williams,  who  had  originally  dis- 
dained to  make  court  to  that  nobleman,  because  he 
thought  that  his  favour  with  the  King  could  not  be 
of  long  continuance,  took  an  active  part  in  fomenting 
the  discontent  of  the  people,  and  endeavoured  to 
undermine  Buckingham  in  the  royal  favour.  Laud 
observed  this,  and  felt  himself  compelled  in  honour 
to  acquaint  a  nobleman  who  had  entrusted  him  with 
his  confidence,  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Lord 
Keeper.  Buckingham  had  before  this  time  become 
less  familiar  with  Williams,  but  he  felt  peculiarly 
mortified  that  a  man,  whom  he  had  been  the  in- 
strument of  raising  to  power  and  influence,  should 
thus  endeavour  to  throw  all  the  popular  odium  on 
him  on  account  of  the  intended  Spanish  alliance. 
He  hastened  home,  therefore,  from  a  country  with 
which  he  had  already  become  disgusted,  and  in 
which  his  own  conduct  had  aided  considerably  to 
make  him  unpopular ;  resolved  to  oppose  the  mar- 
riage, and  publicly  declared  that  the  Spanish  Court 
had  acted  with  duplicity;  had  amused  the  Prince 
by  delays,  and  had  no  intention  of  yielding  the 
Palatinate  :  and  that,  on  these  accounts,  the  King 
ought  to  finish  at  once  all  treaties  with  Spain,  by  a 
formal  proclamation  that  they  would  not  be  ful- 
filled. 


.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  245 

Without,  however,  detailing  at  length  the  poli- 
tical transactions  of  this  period,  it  may  be  proper 
to  mention,  that  from  this  time  Buckingham  re- 
solved to  supplant  Williams,  though  without  suc- 
cess, during  James'  reign.  This  was  the  occasion, 
too,  of  the  dispute  between  Laud  and  that  prelate, 
which  was  never  afterwards  reconciled.  Williams 
accused  Laud  of  ingratitude,  while  Laud,  on  the 
other  hand,  charged  him  with  duplicity  and  selfish- 
ness. A  rooted  enmity  took  place  between  them l. 

Leaving  these  contentions,  however,  for  a  more 
lengthened  detail  and  examination  under  another 
form,  while  Buckingham  was  in  Spain,  Archbishop 
Abbot,  still  farther  to  oppose  Laud  as  long  as  he 
was  able,  left  him  out  of  the  High  Commission,  nor 
was  Bishop  Williams  now  forward  to  get  his  name 
inserted.  Of  this  insult,  rendered  doubly  so  from 
the  quarter  whence  it  came,  Laud  complained 
afterwards  to  Buckingham,  whose  influence  soon 
got  him  nominated.  Various  altercations  passed 
between  him  and  Williams,  who,  says  Laud,  was 
jealous  of  Buckingham's  favour  towards  him2.  So 
great  indeed  was  their  enmity,  that  we  find  Laud 
making  the  following  entry  in  his  Diary,  dated 
Jan.  25,  1623-4,  "  It  was  Sunday,  I  was  alone, 
and  languishing  with  I  know  not  what  sadness.  I 
was  much  concerned  at  the  envy  and  undeserved 
hatred  borne  to  me  by  the  Lord  Keeper.  I  took 

1  Ambrose  Philips'  Life  of  Archbishop  Williams.   Cambridge, 
1703,  p.  150,  151. 

2  Diary,  p.  7,  8. 


246  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1623-4. 

into  my  hands  the  Greek  New  Testament.,  that  I 
might  read  the  portion  of  the  day.  I  lighted  upon 
the  13th  chapter  to  the  Hebrews,  wherein  that  of 
David,  Psal.  Ivi.  occurred  to  me  then,  grieving 
and  fearing.  '  The  Lord  is  my  helper,  I  will  not 
fear  what  man  can  do  unto  me.'  I  thought  an  ex- 
ample was  set  to  me ;  and  who  is  not  safe  under 
that  shield  ?  Protect  me,  O  Lord  my  God  V 

These  pious  notices  cannot  fail  to  appear  honour- 
able to  Laud,  more  especially  when  we  recollect 
that  they  were  written  without  the  slightest  antici- 
pation that  they  were  ever  to  be  perused  by  any 
one  but  himself.  Two  other  praiseworthy  memo- 
rials ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  On  Feb.  1,  he 
informs  us,  that  he  was  at  dinner  with  the, Prince, 
' '  who  was  then  very  merry,  and  talked  occasionally 
with  many  of  his  attendants,  and,  among  other 
things,  he  said,  that  if  he  were  necessitated  to  take 
any  particular  profession  in  life,  he  could  not  be  a 
lawyer,  adding  his  reasons.  '  I  cannot,'  said  he, 
f  defend  a  bad  cause,  nor  yield  in  a  good  one.' '' 
Two  days  after  this,  Laud  informs  us,  that  his 
Controversy  with  Fisher  was  put  to  press,  being 


1  This  unhappy  difference  seems  to  have  had  great  effect  on 
Laud.  On  December  14th  we  find  him  thus  recording,  "  Sun- 
day night  I  did  dream  that  the  Lord  Keeper  was  dead,  that  I 
passed  by  one  of  his  men,  who  was  about  a  monument  for  him  ; 
that  I  heard  him  say,  his  lower  lip  was  infinitely  swollen  and 
fallen,  and  he  rotten  already.  This  dream  did  trouble  me." 
Diary,  p.  7.  On  various  other  occasions  he  has  recorded  this 
dispute,  from  which  his  uneasiness  is  remarkably  evident. 


1623-4.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  247 

licensed  by  the  Bishop  of  London.  "  I  am  no  con- 
troversialist," says  he,  on  this  occasion ;  "  may  God 
so  love  and  bless  my  soul,  as  I  desire  and  endeavour 
that  all  the  never  to  be  enough  deplored  distrac- 
tions of  the  Church  may  be  composed  happily,  to 
the  glory  of  his  holy  name." 

On  the  19th  of  Feb.  1623-4,  the  Parliament 
assembled,  in  which  all  the  treaties  with  Spain 
were  dissolved,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  people,  with 
whom  Buckingham  was  at  this  time  remarkably 
popular,  on  account  of  his  opposition.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  Convocation  met,  in  which  we  find 
Laud  pursuing  his  great  designs  for  the  welfare 
of  the  Church.  The  subsidies  which  the  King 
demanded  falling  heavily  on  the  poorer  clergy, 
Laud  devised  a  plan  to  relieve  them  from  this 
burden,  which  he  communicated  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  that  favourite  promised  to  pro- 
cure the  sanction  of  the  King  and  the  Prince.  He 
was  commended  for  it  by  Williams  and  the  Bishop 
of  Durham ;  but  when  he  consulted  Abbot,  he  ex- 
perienced different  treatment.  The  Primate  enter- 
tained too  much  private  resentment  against  Laud, 
to  restrain  his  temper,  and  he  accordingly  asked 
Laud,  what  business,,  it  was  of  his  to  concern  him- 
self for  the  Church  ?  and  he  also  told  him,  that  no 
Bishop  at  any  time  had  done  the  like,  nor  would 
any  one  but  himself, — that  he  had  wounded  the 
Church  in  speaking  to  a  layman  about  it  in 
such  a  manner  as  could  never  be  healed  ;  and  that, 
if  the  Duke  properly  understood  him,  he  would 


248  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1623-4. 

never  again  permit  him  to  enter  his  presence. 
These  sentiments,  so  ridiculous  and  uncourteous, 
Laud  heard  with  his  accustomed  dignity.  "  I 
thought,"  replied  he,  "  I  had  done  a  very  good 
office  for  the  Church,  and  so  did  my  betters  think. 
If  your  Grace  thinks  otherwise,  I  am  sorry  I  have 
offended  you.  And  I  hope,  being  done  out  of  a 
good  mind,  for  the  support  of  so  many  poor  vicars 
abroad  in  the  country,  who  must  needs  sink  under 
three  subsidies  in  a  year,  my  error,  if  it  is  one,  is 
pardonable."  Laud  had  been  in  the  situation  of  a 
poor  clergyman  himself,  and  knew  well  the  hard- 
ships such  would  have  to  encounter :  but  Abbot, 
who  had  been  promoted  from  the  University  to  a 
Bishopric,  knew  little  of  their  necessitous  circum- 
stances. Abbot's  conduct  compelled  him  to  acquaint 
the  Duke  with  his  reception,  lest  his  enemies  should 
take  advantage  of  it,  and  he  thus  expresses  himself 
on  the  occasion  :  "  Sic  Deus  beet  me  servum  suum, 
laborantem  sub  pressura  eorum,  qui  semper  volue- 
runt  mala  mihi  V 

Laud,  notwithstanding  his  connexion  with  the 
Duke,  opposed  his  design  of  appropriating  the  funds 
of  the  Charter-house  for  the  maintenance  of  an 
army.  Buckingham  maintained,  that  it  would  be 
for  the  advantage  of  the  King  and  the  ease  of  the 
subject;  but  the  Bishop's  generous  nature  made  him 
vigorously  oppose  the  scheme,  for  he  rightly  thought, 
that  all  these  foundations  should  be  held  sacred  and 

1  Diary,  p.  11,  12. 


1624.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  249 

inviolable.  And  he  clearly  saw,  that  were  such 
appropriations  once  to  take  place,  there  could  be 
no  security  for  the  rest,  inasmuch  as  all  these  en- 
dowments, venerable  on  account  of  the  pious  inten- 
tions of  the  founders,  might  be  seized  on  the  slight- 
est emergency,  and  thus  become  solely  under  the 
controul  of  the  monarch  or  his  favourites.  James 
had  endeavoured,  some  years  before,  to  make  a 
similar  appropriation  of  another  endowment,  and 
he  would  have  been  successful,  had  not  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  opposed  him,  at  the 
price  of  disgrace  at  Court.  But  that  celebrated 
lawyer  preserved  his  reputation,  and  Laud,  with 
such  an  example  before  him,  though  he  certainly 
did  not  wish  to  incur  the  King's  resentment,  never- 
theless resolved  to  give  a  decided  negative  to  a 
proposition  of  which  he  could  not  conscientiously 
approve. 

From  these  proceedings,  however,  Laud  was 
called  to  theological  subjects.  The  Duke  requested 
him  to  detail  the  tenets  of  what  is  called  Doctrinal 
Puritanism,  as  held  by  the  Calvinists.  Laud  com- 
plied, and  presented  him  with  them,  divided  into 
ten  heads,  'fhese  divisions  were,  a  definition  of 
the  ideas  of  the  Puritans  about  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath,  the  polity  of  the  Church,  the  power  of 
the  King  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  confession  and 
absolution,  and  the  five  points  on  predestination 1. 

1  "  The  Duke  had  a  desire  to  know  them,  and  he  served  him 
in  it.  I  must  needs  say,  the  name  of  Doctrinal  Puritanism  is 
not  very  ancient,  but  whether  first  taken  up  by  the  Archbishop 


250  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

On  these  subjects,  Laud  dilated  to  the  Duke's 
satisfaction,  shewing  the  fallacy  of  their  positions, 
and  the  dangerous  tendency  of  their  doctrines,  if 
carried  to  an  extreme.  The  Calvinistic  notions, 
which  had  long  raged  on  the  Continent  among  the 
Reformed  Churches,  were  now  assuming  a  new  aspect 
in  the  Church  of  England ;  and  the  Papists,  who 
were  continually  on  the  watch,  took  the  opportu- 
nity to  blend  Calvinism  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  to  make  them  both  bear 
against  the  truths  of  the  Reformation.  And  it 
was  not  till  Dr.  Richard  Montague,  Prebendary  of 
Windsor,  severely  attacked  the  Jesuits,  in  reply  to 
one  of  their  lucubrations,  that  the  Recusants  were 
silenced,  and  the  individual  theories  of  Calvin  ex- 
posed with  success l. 

of  Spalato,  at  his  being  here,  I  am  not  able  to  say.  Nor  am  I 
of  opinion  that  Puritanism  and  Calvinism  are  convertible  terms  ; 
for,  though  all  Puritans  are  Calvinists,  both  in  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice, yet  all  Calvinists  are  not  also  to  be  reckoned  Puritans,  whose 
practices  many  of  them  abhor,  and  whose  unconformities  they 
detest ;  though,  by  the  error  of  their  education,  or  ill  direction  in 
the  course  of  their  studies,  they  may  and  do  agree  with  them  in 
some  points  of  doctrine."  Heylin,  p.  1 1 9. 

1  "  The  priests  and  Jesuits,"  says  Heylin,  "  having  been  very 
busy  of  late  in  gaining  proselytes,  and  sowing  their  erroneous 
doctrines,  had  got  a  haunt  in  a  village  of  the  county  of  Essex, 
called  Stamford  Rivers.  The  rector  of  that  church  was  Richard 
Montague,  Bachelor  in  Divinity,  Prebendary  of  Windsor,  and 
one  of  the  Fellows  of  Eton  College,  a  man  exceedingly  well 
versed  in  the  Fathers,  &c.  Desirous  to  free  his  parish  from  this 
haunt,  he  left  some  propositions  at  the  house  of  one  of  his  neigh- 
bours, who  had  been  frequently  visited  by  these  night  spirits, 


1624.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  251 

The  clamour  which  was  raised  by  the  Calvinists 
against  these  proceedings,  accorded  with  their  pre- 
vious conduct.  The  old  cry  of  Popery  and  Armi- 
nianism  was  sounded  abroad,  as  if  indeed  the  doc- 
trines of  universal  redemption  to  all  men,  if  they 
truly  repent,  were  never  heard  of  until  they  were 
taught  by  the  Dutch  professor.  But  while  these 
disputes  were  agitated,  in  which  Laud  fought  man- 
fully for  truth,  the  Parliament,  having  gained  their 
purposes,  were  celebrating  their  triumphs  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Spanish  treaties,  while  the  auda- 
city of  the  Jesuits  and  priests  was  somewhat  abated 
by  the  result.  After  the  prorogation  of  Parliament 
preparations  were  made  for  war  with  Spain,  which, 
however,  were  happily  suspended.  The  Prince  re- 
collected the  beauty  of  the  accomplished  Henrietta 
Maria,  and  proposals  were  made  to  Lewis  XIII.  for 
the  marriage.  The  proposals  were  accepted,  and  a 
treaty  entered  into  with  the  French  monarch,  to  the 
renewed  mortification  of  the  Puritans,  who  de- 
claimed as  violently  against  this  alliance  as  they  had 
done  against  that  with  Spain.  But  while  these  ne- 
gotiations were  in  progress,  which  Laud  is  charged 

with  this  declaration  thereunto,  that  if  any  of  those  who  ranged 
that  walk  would  convince  him  in  any  of  the  same,  he  would 
immediately  be  a  Papist."  It  appears  that  the  Jesuits  accepted 
the  challenge,  and  produced  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  A  New  Gag 
for  the  Old  Gospel,"  in  which  it  was  pretended  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  Protestants  could  be  confuted  out  of  the  very  words  of 
their  own  English  Bibles.  Montague  found  it  a  compound  of 
errors  and  absurdities,  which  required  little  pains  to  refute. 


252  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625, 

by  Prynne  with  promoting l,  an  unexpected  event 
occurred,  which  engrossed  for  a  time  the  attention 
of  the  nation. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1624-5,  King  James  de- 
parted this  life  at  Theobalds,  in  Hertfordshire.  He 
was  seized  with  a  tertian  ague,  which  baffled  the 
skill  of  his  physicians,  and  brought  his  life  to  a  close. 
Laud  was  preaching  at  Whitehall  when  the  sorrow- 
ful tidings  were  conveyed  to  him,  which  being  whis- 
pered to  him,  he  stopped  in  the  middle  of  his  dis- 
course2. The  King  bore  his  last  illness  with  pa- 
tience and  Christian  resignation:  having  recited 
the  Creed,  and  received  the  Holy  Eucharist,  he 
assured  his  attendants  that  he  felt  tranquil  and 
happy,  and,  declaring  that  he  died  in  peace  with 
all  men,  calmly  expired  in  the  59th  year  of  his 
age. 

No  monarch,  perhaps,  has  been  more  abused  than 
James  I. ;  nor  shall  I,  after  the  numerous  contra- 
dictory delineations  of  character,  enlarge  very  much 
in  his  vindication.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  de- 
termination of  every  writer  to  heap  additional  insult 
on  the  memory  of  this  traduced  monarch,  and  those 
who  have  defended  him  have  been  no  less  subjected 
to  censure.  His  hatred  of  persecution,  his  desire 
of  granting  a  toleration  to  the  Papists,  and  his  op- 
position to  the  Puritan  faction,  have  been  magnified 
as  the  greatest  crimes ;  and  he  has  been  calumniated 
by  fanatics  as  the  weakest  and  the  worst  of  kings. 

1  Hidden  Works  of  Darkness,  p,  73.  2  Diary,  p.  15. 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  253 

He  has  been  called  a  traitor  to  religion,  though  he 
was  never  a  Calvinist ;  an  enemy  to  liberty,  though 
he  maintained  no  more  than  his  rightful  ascendancy 
over  hot-headed  and  seditious  enthusiasts  :  because 
he  was  a  scholar,  the  most  learned  Prince  of  his  age, 
or,  perhaps,  of  those  who  ever  sat  on  the  English 
throne,  he  has  been  held  up  to  ridicule  and  con- 
tempt as  a  weak-minded  pedant ;  and  because  he 
was  a  resolute  defender  of  the  Church  of  England, 
he  has  been  vilified  as  a  doctrinal  Papist,  and  an 
ecclesiastical  tyrant.  Yet  surely  justice  will  be 
done  to  the  memory  of  a  prince  whose  only  failing 
was  his  love  of  peace ;  who  had  adopted  as  his  motto, 
Beati  pacifici ;  whom  the  worst  censure  can  only 
accuse  of  pushing  to  an  extreme  his  favourite  object, 
the  eternal  interests  of  his  factious  subjects  J. 

The  reign  of  James  was  not  one  pregnant  with 
disasters,  but  it  was  the  prelude  to  calamities  which 
his  son  was  destined  to  encounter.  He  had  found 
England  at  peace,  and  at  peace  he  left  it,  but  about 
to  be  rent  by  a  faction,  which  had  been  struggling 


1  The  observations  of  James  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference 
discovered  a  strong  intellect,  and  he  easily  perceived  the  Puri- 
tanical hypocrisy  in  the  pretended  zeal  for  his  prerogative.  He 
was  invariably  jealous  of  Popish  interference,  and  we  find,  that 
in  all  foreign  negotiations,  he  preserved  his  independence.  The 
real  truth  seems  to  be  this  :  it  is  because  the  annals  of  James' 
reign  are  not  connected  with  battles  and  bloodshed,  with  war 
and  military  armaments  ;  it  is  because  there  is  no  record  of  the 
intrigues  of  ministers  and  the  craftiness  of  cabinets,  that  the 
monarch  has  been  called  pusillanimous  and  contemptible. 


254  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

for  the  mastery  nearly  half  a  century.  We  are 
told  by  the  Puritan  historian,  that  "  both  Popery 
and  Puritanism  increased  during  his  reign,  while 
the  friends  of  the  hierarchy  sunk  into  contempt ;" 
and  this,  first,  by  "  their  (the  Puritans)  standing 
firm  by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  country ; 
secondly,  by  their  steady  adherence  to  the  doctrines 
of  Calvin,  and  the  Synod  of  Dort,  on  the  points  of 
predestination  and  grace,  against  the  modern  inter- 
pretations of  Arminius  and  his  followers ;"  thirdly, 
"  by  their  pibus  and  severe  manner  of  life,  which 
was  at  this  time  very  extraordinary."  Such  are  the 
profound  reasons  of  Neal  for  the  protection  of  Bri- 
tish liberty,  which  have  been  echoed  by  his  admirers 
to  the  present  time.  But  the  history  of  the  Puri- 
tan faction  furnishes  abundant  proofs,  that  what  they 
called  "  standing  firm  to  the  constitution  and  laws," 
was  the  merest  pretext,  inasmuch  as  it  consisted  in 
continually  annoying  their  sovereign  on  subjects 
which  they  themselves  admitted  to  be  of  trifling  or 
secondary  import,  in  opposing  him,  inflaming  the 
people,  and  preaching  fanatical  and  seditious  ser- 
mons. And  we  well  know  that  the  doctrines  of 
Calvin  engendered  strife  and  conspiracy,  and  seeing 
that  it  is  folly  to  assert  that  these  doctrines  pre- 
served the  constitution,  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to 
pronounce  on  the  subject.  Who  requires  to  be 
told,  that  from  the  first  dawn  of  Puritanism,  in- 
trigue and  faction  shewed  their  hateful  influences — 
that  Elizabeth's  reign  was  one  of  plots  and  dis- 
turbances between  them  and  the  Papists,— -that 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  255 

James'  life  was  embittered  by  their  hostile  conten- 
tions,— and  that  the  novelties  of  Geneva  hurried 
them  into  excesses  which  constantly  gathered 
strength,  and  finally  overthrew  the  constitution  ? 
Calvinism  and  British  liberty  are  not,  and  cannot  be, 
identified ;  the  one  is  the  offspring  of  a  foreign  soil, 
and  frequently  introducing  intolerance  and  tyranny, 
as  it  did  in  Scotland ;  while  British  liberty  was  esta- 
blished long  before  Calvin's  notions  were  known. 

The  turbulence  of  Scotland  has  been  charged  on 
James  as  the  effect  of  his  apostasy  from  Calvinism. 
But  if  that  monarch's  motives  be  taken  into  account, 
we  shall  soon  see  that  his  conduct  was  highly  lauda- 
ble, though  he  was  unsuccessful  in  all  his  endea- 
vours. A  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  was  his  great 
object,  but  in  that  age  of  enthusiasm  it  was  not  likely 
that  such  a  union  could  have  been  effected  without 
a  uniformity  of  religion.  He  had  the  welfare  of  his 
Scottish  subjects  at  heart ;  he  thought  on  Scotland 

/  as  the  land  of  his  birth,  where  his  ancestors  had 
long  swayed  the  sceptre,  where  his  mother,  the 
most  beautiful  Princess  in  Europe,  kept  her  court. 

.  He  wished  to  see  the  two  kingdoms  consolidated 
into  one  powerful  monarchy,  which  evidently  arose 
from  his  Scottish  partialities.  He  saw  that  Scotland 
could  not  benefit  England  by  such  a  union ;  that 
the  latter  was  the  more  powerful,  and  that  sooner 
or  later  the  former  must  lose  its  independence ;  but 
the  advantage  would  be  on  the  side  of  Scotland,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  two  kingdoms  would  forget  their 
mutual  animosities,  and  they  would  be  formed  into 


256  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

one  brotherhood  ;  the  arts  and  sciences  of  England 
would  rescue  the  Scottish  people  from  their  igno- 
rance, English  agriculture  would  render  the  barren 
soil  of  the  north  more  fruitful,  its  inhabitants  indus- 
trious, its  future  prosperity  certain.  But  in  that 
age  of  enthusiasm,  uniformity  of  religion  seemed  to 
James  to  be  indispensable ;  he  recollected  the  into- 
lerance of  the  Calvinistic  ministers,  and  the  tyranny 
of  the  Presbytery  which  they  had  established : 
hence,  when  the  Church  became  united,  one  reli- 
gious bond  connected  the  two  nations ;  their  cause 
was  one  ;  they  were  friends  and  brothers. 

Sectarian  curiosity  has  pried  into  the  private  life 
of  James ;  it  has  discovered  that  he  was  indolent, 
and  prone  to  vices ;  that  his  conversation  was  unbe- 
coming, indecent,  and  profane :  it  has  delighted  in 
recording  his  imprudences,  and  his  failings  have 
been  magnified  into  heinous  transgressions.  While 
I  need  not  stop  to  notice  the  wickedness  and  fana- 
ticism of  such  mean  retaliations,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, that  when  he  was  sensible  of  his  errors,  his 
repentance  was  sincere ;  his  failings  were  those  of 
the  head,  not  of  the  heart,  and  they  were,  moreover, 
trivial  in  themselves.  Politeness  is  a  relative  term, 
which  has  different  gradations  in  every  age  and 
place  ;  nor  can  we  injustice  estimate  the  language 
of  our  fathers  according  to  our  own  ideas  of  moral 
feeling.  Nor  is  it  true,  as  his  enemies  have  alleged, 
that  he  was  versatile  and  insincere  in  religion. 
Throughout  life  he  preserved  his  affection  towards 
the  Reformation  ;  the  welfare  of  the  Church  was  his 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  257 

highest  aim,  he  wished  to  be  a  Christian,  not  a 
worldly  monarch.  He  was  a  munificent  patron  of 
learning  and  of  learned  men ;  and  the  celebrated 
Bacon,  whose  testimony  alone  might  suffice,  has 
said,  that  he  had  "  a  right  to  the  character  of  the 
celebrated  Hermes  Trismegistus ;"  that  he  united 
"  the  sovereignty  of  a  prince,  the  illumination  of  a 
priest,  and  the  learning  of  a  philosopher,  in  the 
same  person."  One  dangerous  expedient  adopted 
by  James  was  his  publication  of  the  Book  of  Sports, 
in  which  he  asserted  the  lawfulness  of  recreations 
on  the  Sabbath-day.  While  we  must  make  allow- 
ances for  the  age ;  while  we  must  recollect  that  he 
did  it  from  a  very  fallacious  principle  to  counteract 
and  restrain  that  gloomy  fanaticism  which  the  Puri- 
tan theology  had  engendered,  by  which  religion 
became  an  intolerable  burden,  instead  of  a  pleasing 
and  edifying  duty;  while  it  was  designed,  also,  to 
allure  the  Papists  to  the  Church,  and  was  limited  in 
its  operations ;  it  must  not  be  denied  that  all  such 
proclamations  are  dangerous  to  morality,  and  incon- 
sistent with  religious  truth.  None,  except  religious 
zealots,  will  deny  that  the  Christian  Sabbath  should 
be  a  day  of  cheerful  relaxation,  in  which  the  lower 
classes  may  enjoy,  after  their  six  days  of  anxious  toil 
and  labour,  the  sweets  of  innocent  recreation,  nor  in 
the  command, "  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep 
it  holy,"  are  we  to  understand  that  inherent  holiness 
which  is  the  essential  attribute  of  Heaven,  and  to 
which,  in  this  state  of  imperfection,  we  can  never 
attain.  The  austerity  and  gloom  of  those  who 
VOL.  i.  s 


258  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

would  deny  to  the  labourer  and  the  mechanic,  con- 
fined for  six  days  in  unhealthy  abodes,  and  dodmed 
to  unclean  employments,  the  salubrious  walk  and 
the  recreation  from  toil  and  care,  are  to  be  con- 
demned ;  but  thus  far  can  we  go,  and  no  farther. 
The  Sabbath  ought  to  be  a  day  of  rest  as  it  is 
a  day  of  solemn  observance  ;  and  they  who  forget 
and  wilfully  neglect  "  the  assembling  of  themselves 
together,"  may  certainly  be  considered  as  careless 
and  reckless  of  their  future  welfare.  While  inno- 
cent conversation  may  be  allowed,  and,  indeed,  is 
necessary  to  divert  the  mind  from  the  more  solemn 
and  severe  meditations  on  religion,  no  sounds  of  bois- 
terous mirth  ought  to  be  heard  on  that  hallowed 
day ;  no  display  of  worldly-mindedness ;  no  rude 
jests  should  be  uttered,  nor  "  the  loud  laugh,  which 
speaks  the  vacant  mind."  Among  the  higher  classes 
the  abuse  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  to  be  positively 
condemned.  Six  days  they  have  for  their  fashion- 
able pursuits,  and  enjoyments  ;  cannot  they  rest  for 
one  day  in  seven  ?  Cannot  they  shew  that  they  are 
not  dead  to  every  religious  feeling  ?  And  they  ought 
to  reflect,  that  example  is  contagious ;  that  it  is  a 
powerful  authority ;  and  that  their  conduct  is  ob- 
served by  their  humble  brethren,  who  imitate  their 
vices  without  having  the  prudence  to  restrain  them- 
selves within  proper  bounds.  The  observance  of  the 
Sabbath  is  imperative  on  all  men,  and  it  is  not 
difficult  to  estimate  the  morality  of  a  people  who 
disregard  its  holy  institutions. 

The  two  great  errors  of  James'  life,  connected 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  259 

with  the  Church,  was  the  promotion  of  Abbot  to 
the  primacy,  and  his  countenancing  the  Synod  of 
Dort.  The  administration  of  the  former  issued  in 
disasters :  discipline  was  neglected,  enthusiasm  was 
patronised  :  and  the  Calvinists  whom  he  admitted 
into  the  Church  at  last  accomplished  its  overthrow. 
On  the  Synod  of  Dort,  little  need  be  said.  The 
dogmas  of  Calvin  were  introduced  into  the  Church, 
and  had  most  lamentable  effects;  and  advantage 
was  taken  of  this  act  of  James,  (which  he  did  merely 
from  political  motives,  and  chiefly  from  his  personal 
friendship  towards  Prince  Maurice,)  to  traduce  him 
for  his  conduct,  and  still  further  to  prove  his  hypo- 
crisy and  irreligion.  Nothing  was  evidently  far- 
ther from  James'  thoughts  than  to  patronise  Cal- 
vinism, which  he  had  never  thoroughly  believed, 
and  which,  since  the  period  of  his  Accession,  he  had 
steadily  opposed  l. 


1  I  confess  that  I  am  far  from  being  satisfied  with  the  obser- 
vations of  many  writers,  that  James  was  at  this  time  disposed  to 
favour  Calvinism  from  principle,  for,  though  he  certainly  com- 
mitted a  grievous  error  in  sending  deputies,  yet  his  share  of  the 
transaction  was  altogether  political.  The  Calvinists,  with  Maurice 
at  their  head,  were  not  actuated  by  zeal  for  purity  of  doctrine, 
but  were  determined  to  crush  the  Arminians,  who  were  supplant- 
ing them.  Bangny's  Life  of  Grotius,  edit.  1754.  Wilson's  King 
James,  in  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  716-724.  Camden's  An- 
nals of  King  James,  p.  649.  Grotius,  Apolog.  c.  ix.  Le  Vassor's 
Histoire  de  Louis  XIII.  lib.  iv.  It  was  suspected  that  James  was 
unfavourable  to  Calvinism,  and  hence  the  anxiety  to  make  him 
a  party  against  the  Arminians.  Causabon's  Epistles,  No.  933. 
James  wrote  against  Arminius,  it  is  true,  but  it  was  only  when 

s  2 


260  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

And  what  can  be  said  on  James*  alleged  pedan- 
try ?  It  is  well  for  men  to  declaim,  when  they  are 
blinded  by  prejudice,  and  stimulated  by  hatred; 
these  baneful  passions  preclude  them  from  seeing 
"  any  good  thing  in  Nazareth."  The  mind  of 
James  was  neither  sordid  nor  ambitious,  and  he 
delighted  more  in  intellectual  pleasures  than  in  the 
vain  and  ephemeral  pageantries  of  state.  His  lite- 
rary talents  are  entitled  to  the  greatest  respect,  and 
his  version  of  the  Psalms  has  been  characterised 
by  Pope  as  the  best  in  the  English  language.  But 
it  was  in  theological  learning  that  he  excelled. 
This  enabled  him  to  judge  of  the  disputes  of  the 
age,  and  prevented  him  from  becoming  a  dupe  to 
the  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans1. 


he  took  the  doctrines  which  are  called  Arminian  on  the  shewing 
of  the  Calvinists.  The  proceedings  of  this  Synod,  far  more  into- 
lerant than  any  Popish  Council,  as  I  have  stated  in  the  text, 
will  make  it  be  remembered  with  the  liveliest  indignation  by 
every  good  man.  We  may  discover  in  it  the  uniform  spirit  of 
Calvinistic  intolerance.  The  persecution  of  the  Arminians,  the. 
deposition  of  Episcopius  and  other  great  men,  the  execution  of 
Barnevelt,  Grand  Pensioner  of  Holland,  the  imprisonment  of 
Hoogerbetz,  and  also  of  the  celebrated  Grotius,  from  which, 
however,  he  escaped  by  the  stratagem  of  his  wife,  were  all  the 
fruits  of  Dutch  Presbyterianism. 

1  In  these  remarks  on  tlje  literary  character  of  James,  I  am 
glad  to  find  an  author  with  whom  I  completely  agree.  I  refer 
to  Mr,  I.  D'Israeli,  who,  in  his  excellent  work  entitled  "  Calami- 
ties of  Authors,"  12mo.  London,  1812,  vol.  ii.  p.  245,  has  these 
remarks,  honourable  at  once  to  the  memory  of  the  monarch,  and 
to  the  liberal  feeling  of  the  writer.  "  From  a  late  examination 
of  his  works,  let  me  also  protest  against  the  echoed  opinions  of 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  261 

Let  these  remarks,  however,  suffice  at  present 
on  the  character  of  this  calumniated  monarch. 
Whatever  were  his  failings,  they  were  far  out-num- 
bered by  his  many  virtues,  by  his  sincere  regard 
for  religion,  by  his  mildness,  his  clemency,  affa- 
bility, and  generous  nature.  Future  generations, 
I  am  persuaded,  will  yet  do  justice  to  the  memory 
of  James,  and  his  political  motives  and  actions  will 
be  properly  estimated  when  enthusiasm  has  sub- 
sided, and  when  men  shall  reason  with  candour 
and  soberness  on  the  memories  of  the  illustrious 
dead.  "  He  was  the  Solomon  of  this  age,"  says 
the  venerable  primate  of  Scotland,  "  admired  for 
his  wise  government,  and  for  his  knowledge  of  all 
manner  of  learning.  For  his  wisdom,  moderation, 
love  of  justice,  for  his  patience  and  piety,  which 
shined  above  all  his  other  virtues,  and  is  witnessed 
in  the  learned  works  which  he  left  to  posterity,  his 
name  shall  never  be  forgotten,  but  remain  in  honour 
so  long  as  the  world  endureth."  Bishop  Williams, 

so  many  critics ;  I  would  plead  for  the  talents  of  this  literary  mo- 
narch. James  was  no  more  a  pedant  than  the  ablest  of  his  cotem- 
poraries  ;  nor  abhorred  more  the  taste  of  tobacco,  nor  feared  old 
witches,  than  they  did :  he  was  a  great  wit,  a  most  acute  dispu- 
tant; and  he  discovers  a  genius  far  above  mediocrity  in  his 
excellent  Basilicon  Doron.  He  would  have  been  a  sage  for  a 
prince,  for  his  genius  went  beyond  pedantry ;  Marcus  Antoninus 
was  not  a  greater  philosopher,  though  he  was  a  feebler  sovereign. 
James  had  formed  the  most  elevated  conceptions  of  the  virtues 
and  duties  of  a  monarch,  and  had  his  son  Henry  survived, 
that  nobler  genius  had  embodied  the  ideal  of  his  father  and  his 
preceptor." 


262  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

the  Lord  Keeper,  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  and 
Laud  lamented  his  death  with  the  utmost  sorrow, 
grieved  for  the  loss  of  a  Prince  whom  he  loved, 
whose  kindness  he  had  experienced,  whose  worth 
those  only  who  were  about  his  person  could  justly 
appreciate. 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  263 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1625—1627. 

Accession  of  Charles  I. — State  of  the  nation — Character  of  the 
King — the  Duke  of  Buckingham — Bishop  Laud — Proceed- 
ings of  the  King— Intrigues  of  Laud's  enemies — Marriage  of 
Charles  I. — Meeting  of  the  First  Parliament — Its  proceedings 
— Remarks  on  it — Dr.  Richard  Montague — Bishop  Williams 
'—Proclamations  of  the  King — Conduct  of  Archbishop  Abbot 
— Exertions  of  Laud — His  appointment  at  the  Coronation  to 
officiate  as  Dean  of  Westminster — The  Regalia — He  regulates 
Westminster  Abbey — Coronation  of  Charles  I. —  The  Corona- 
tion oath — False  charges  against  Laud — The  Second  Parlia- 
ment— Intended  impeachment  of  Buckingham — He  is  vindi- 
cated by  the  King — Conclusion  of  the  Second  Parliament — • 
Practices  against  Laud — Dr.  Goodman— Proclamation  of 
the  King. 

WE  now  enter  on  a  new  era,  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 
— a  reign  pregnant  with  disasters,  and  fatal  in  its 
termination.  The  spirit  of  sedition,  which  had 
been  restrained,  but  not  subdued,  by  Elizabeth  and 
James,  was  destined  to  break  out  with  overwhelm- 
ing violence,  and  to  involve  both  Church  and  State 
in  one  mighty  and  melancholy  ruin. 

I  have  repeatedly  declared  my  conviction,  that  a 
time  will  yet  come  when  justice  will  be  done  to  the 
memory  of  the  Stuarts,  especially  to  James  and 


264  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

Charles  I.  While  it  can  be  proved,  from  unde- 
niable facts,  that  in  many  cases  they  could  not  act 
otherwise  than  they  did,  it  can  also  be  proved  that 
the  excesses  of  the  Puritans  were  the  great  cause 
of  that  licentiousness  and  irreligion  which  charac- 
terised the  Court  after  the  monarchy  was  restored. 
Too  great  pretensions  to  religion  in  one  party  of 
the  state  generally  produce  laxity  in  the  other  ; 
and  hence  it  was  that  Puritanism  exhibited  religion, 
not  as  indeed  it  is,  lovely  and  attractive,  admira- 
bly adapted  to  the  wants  of  man,  and  elevating  his 
soul  above  the  sublunary  enjoyments  of  time  and 
sense,  but  as  gloomy,  austere,  and  forbidding,  im- 
posing unwarrantable  restraints  on  the  heart,  and 
subjecting  it  to  a  tyranny  of  fallible  men,  most  re- 
volting to  human  nature.  And  driven  to  despera- 
tion by  the  outrageous  fanaticism  of  the  Puritans  in 
this  reign,  what  could  those  do  who  were  at  the 
helm  of  power  ?  It  was  no  longer  a  reluctant  obe- 
dience, and  a  mere  verborum  prtelium,  but  it  was 
a  struggle  which  should  obtain  the  mastery  ;  it  was 
a  determination  by  the  Puritans  to  unsheath  the 
sword ;  they  openly  declared  against  toleration,  they 
dogmatically  said  they  would  not  submit.  I  need 
not  enumerate  the  consequences.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  the  sacred  name  of  religion  was  abused 
to  serve  the  ambition  and  hypocrisy  of  a  faction ; 
that  murder  and  bloodshed  stalked  abroad  in  the 
nation ;  that  the  reign  of  enthusiasm  was  drawing 
nigh  ;  and  that  the  beautiful  and  spiritual  ritual  of 
the  Church  was  to  be  supplanted  by  the  fearful 


1625.']  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  265 

revelries  of  disordered  imaginations,  by  canting 
phraseology,  hypocrisy,  and  tyrannical  ambition. 

In  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  Charles  I. 
ascended  the  throne  of  England.  Educated  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  justly  reck- 
oned that  Church  the  bulwark  of  the  Protestant 
Reformation,  and  felt  for  it  that  attachment  which 
he  was  destined  to  seal  with  his  blood.  A  lover  of 
his  country  and  of  its  sacred  institutions,  he  gave 
an  example  by  his  virtue,  his  integrity,  and  his 
generous  valour. 

The  commencement  of  a  new  reign  is  generally 
of  great  importance,  according  to  the  state  of  par- 
ties, and  the  hopes  in  which  they  choose  to  indulge. 
Had  Charles  gone  over  to  the  Puritans,  he  might, 
by  uniting  with  those  dark  and  gloomy  religion- 
ists, have  perhaps  averted  many  of  his  future  cala- 
mities ;  but  he  was  bound  by  the  constitution  and 
the  laws  to  adhere  to  Church  and  State,  nor  could 
any  alterations  be  effected  without  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  nation.  If,  at  the  first,  he  had  made 
concessions  to  the  Puritans,  no  limits  would  have 
been  set  to  their  extravagant  demands  ;  and,  like  the 
Papists,  the  more  favours  they  received,  the  greater 
would  have  been  their  insolence.  It  was  necessary 
for  Charles,  therefore,  to  adhere  vigorously  to  the 
constitution  as  he  found  it,  and  not,  by  a  too  facile 
compliance  with  the  demands  of  faction,  jafford  dan- 
gerous precedents  for  future  actions.  Perhaps, 
after  all,  in  whatever  way  he  acted,  his  fall  was  in- 
evitable :  the  designs  of  the  Calvinists  had  been  in 


266  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

part  premeditated ;  and  it  was  better,  it  was  nobler, 
for  the  King  to  remain  by  the  constitution,  and  to 
be  buried  in  its  ruins,  than  to  become  the  sport  of 
a  faction,  who  would  not  reason,  who  would  have 
established  a  system  of  religion,  in  which  there 
was  no  safeguard  from  fanaticism,  in  which  every 
man  would  have  done  that  which  was  right  in  his 
own  eyes,  and  who  would  have  set  up  a  Calvinistic 
pope  in  every  parish  in  England. 

Of  the  ministers  of  Charles,  his  state  favourite  was 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  This  nobleman  was  pos- 
sessed of  considerable  talents,  but  he  was  generally 
unpopular,  because  he  did  not  patronise  those  dis- 
ordered dreams  on  religion,  which  prevailed  during 
that  period.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that  he  was 
too  often  arrogant  and  haughty ;  that  he  overlooked 
or  despised  the  measures  of  conciliation  with  the 
nobles,  whom  he  had  disgusted ;  and  his  passions 
frequently  hurried  him  into  excesses,  which  were 
not  becoming  in  his  exalted  situation :  otherwise, 
however,  Buckingham,  though  a  favourite,  was  an 
able  minister,  and  though  he  has  been  slandered  by 
his  opponents  for  his  private  life,  he  has  never  been 
charged  as  an  enemy  to  his  country. 

But  the  King  was  more  fortunate  in  Laud,  who 
was  his  principal  adviser  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church. 
Through  the  interest  and  friendship  of  Bucking- 
ham, Laud  had  acquired  the  favour  of  Charles,  who 
in  him  possessed  an  upright  and  conscientious  mi- 
nister. This  great  prelate  preserved  the  same  uni- 
form integrity,  unmoved  by  faction,  undaunted  by 
7 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  267 

opposition ;  and  it  was  his  wish  that  the  institutions 
of  religion  should  be  preserved  inviolate,  apart  from 
the  absurdities  of  error,  and  the  extravagance  of  the 
Puritan  zealots. 

On  the  first  day  of  March,  after  the  death  of 
James,  Laud  received  his  appointment  to  preach 
before  Charles  at  Westminster,  at  the  opening  of 
the  first  Parliament.  Three  days  afterwards,  the 
King,  who  wished  to  regulate  the  number  of  his 
chaplains,  required  Laud  to  draw  out  a  list  for  him 
of  the  most  celebrated  preachers  and  divines,  with 
a  notice  of  the  principles  and  qualifications  of  each, 
more  especially  as  their  number  was  to  be  restricted, 
and  their  time  of  officiating  more  plainly  stated. 
Laud,  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Church, 
readily  complied  with  this  injunction.  "  The  King," 
says  Lord  Clarendon,  "  looked  upon  the  Puritans 
as  a  very  dangerous  and  seditious  people.,  who 
would,  under  pretence  of  conscience,  which  kept 
them  from  submitting  to  the  spiritual  jurisdiction, 
take  the  first  opportunity  they  could  find  or  make, 
to  withdraw  themselves  from  his  temporal  jurisdic- 
tion, and  therefore  his  Majesty  caused  these  people 
to  be  watched,  and  provided  against  with  the  ut- 
most vigilance  V  The  Bishop  accordingly  drew  out 
a  list,  which  he  transmitted  to  the  King,  in  which 
he  clearly  distinguished  the  enemies  of  the  Church 
from  its  friends :  and  thus  secured  none  about  the 
King's  person  but  those  who  were  devoted  to  the 

1  Clarendon's  Hist,  of  Rebel,  vol.  i.  p.  81. 


268  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

Reformed   Church  of   England   in   doctrine   and 
practice l . 

But  at  this  time  Laud's  enemies  were  busily  at 
work,  in  their  endeavour  to  undermine  his  reputa- 
tion. The  old  scandal  of  his  inclination  to  Popery 
had  either  become  stale  or  was  disregarded,  and  his 
enemies  therefore  attempted  to  revive  his  unfor- 
tunate share  in  the  marriage  of  the  Earl  of  Devon- 
shire 2.  He  says,  in  his  Diary,  that  "  a  certain 
person,  moved  with  I  know  not  what  envy,  black- 
ened my  name  with  King  Charles,"  but  who  this 
person  was  he  does  not  say,  and  it  would  be  idle  to 
conjecture.  He  must  either  have  been  an  emissary 
of  the  Primate  or  of  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  latter 
having  rapidly  declined  in  Buckingham's  favour, 
and  on  both  of  whom  the  King  looked  with  indiffer- 
ence. The  Duke  informed  Laud  of  this  act  of 
malice,  and  from  the  Bishop's  expressions  of  gra- 
titude towards  that  nobleman,  it  appears  that  he 
completely  vindicated  him  to  the  King.  His  enemies 
had  the  mortification  to  witness  the  failure  of  their 
calumnies ;  for  on  that  very  day,  the  9th  of  April, 
Laud  was  directed  by  the  King  to  consult  Bishop 
Andrews  about  the  Convocation  which  was  to  meet 
at  the  same  time  with  Parliament,  and  to  receive 
the  advice  of  that  learned  Prelate  respecting  the 
five  predestinarian  articles  which  the  Synod  of  Dort 

1  We  are  told  that  he  distinguished  them  on  the  list  by  the 
letters  O  (Orthodox)  and  P  (Puritan).     Heyljn,  p.  127.     Col- 
lier, vol.  ii.  p.  733.     Neal's  Hist.  p.  160. 

2  Diary,  p.  16. 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  269 

had  declared  to  be  orthodox1.  The  answer  of  the 
Bishop  was  delivered  by  Laud  on  the  13th  of  April, 
from  which  it  appears  that  the  two  Prelates  had 
resolved  to  prevent  the  discussion  of  those  dogmas 
in  the  Convocation,  on  account  of  the  number  of 
Calvinists  admitted  under  Abbot's  auspices  into  the 
Lower  House. 

On  the  first  of  May,  the  marriage  of  Charles 
with  the  beautiful  Henrietta  Maria  of  France, 
which  had  been  sanctioned  in  the  last  reign,  was 
celebrated  by  proxy  in  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame 
at  Paris.  After  the  funeral  of  James,  at  which  the 
King  attended  as  chief  mourner,  Buckingham  de- 
parted for  France,  to  conduct  the  Queen  to  Eng- 
land. Laud  corresponded  with  that  nobleman 
while  he  was  absent  on  this  important  occasion2. 
The  King,  in  the  mean  time,  employed  himself  in 
inspecting  his  navy,  and  drawing  together  his  army, 
expecting  a  war  with  Spain ;  but  on  Trinity  Sun- 

1  Laud  wished  to  debate  the  points  of  the  quinquarticular 
controversy  in  this  Convocation,  and  at  once  shew  that  they  were 
never  at  any  time  the  received  doctrines  of  the  Church.     But 
Bishop  Andrews  deprecated  the  renewal  of  that  disputation 
which  had  already  done  too  much  mischief,  and  he  successfully 
prevailed  with  Laud  to  relinquish  his  intentions  of  bringing  for- 
ward the  subject.     It  has  been  asserted,  that  Arminianism  was 
agitated  in  this  Parliament,  which  is  not  the  case,  nor  did  it  pro- 
perly become  a  public  question  till  1628.     Laud  was  anxious 
to  have  it  brought  before  the  Convocation,  but  he  was  overruled 
by  Bishop  Andrews.     The  conduct  of  the  Commons  in  con- 
demning Montague's  Book  was  their  own  act. 

2  Diary,  p.  17,  18. 


270  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

day,  June  12,  he  arrived  at  Canterbury,  where  he 
rested,  and  that  night  he  received  notice  that  the 
Queen  had  arrived  at  Dover.  He  departed  thither, 
and  the  next  morning  he  welcomed  Henrietta  to 
England.  He  brought  her  thence  to  Canterbury, 
and  from  that  city  to  Gravesend,  where,  entering 
the  royal  barge,  they  proceeded  by  water  to  West- 
minster, and  were  there  received  with  every  demon- 
stration of  affection  and  joy. 

The  Parliament,  which  had  been  thrice  pro- 
rogued from  the  17th  of  May,  assembled  on  Satur- 
day, the  18th  of  June;  and  on  the  following  day, 
being  the  first  Sunday  after  Trinity,  Laud  preached 
before  the  King  and  the  House  of  Lords  at  White- 
hall, from  the  second  and  third  verses  of  the  seventh 
Psalm.  On  Monday,  the  20th,  the  Convocation 
met,  and  an  order  was  sent  from  the  King  to  the 
Upper  House,  commanding  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  six  other  bishops,  of  whom  Laud  was 
one,  to  advise  together,  and  to  appoint  a  day  for  a 
solemn  fast  and  form  of  prayer,  "  to  implore  the  di- 
vine mercy,  now  that  the  pestilence  began  to  spread, 
and  the  extraordinary  wet  weather  threatened  a 
famine,  and  also  to  beseech  the  divine  blessing  upon 
the  fleet,  now  ready  to  put  to  sea 1."  This  was  done, 
and  the  fast  was  kept  by  both  Houses  on  the  2d  of 
July,  as  an  example  to  the  whole  kingdom. 

Charles  opened  his  first  Parliament  with  a  short 
speech,  in  which  he  declared  those  principles  by 

1  Diary,  p.  19,20. 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  271 

which  he  was  guided  in  after  life.  He  alluded  to 
the  aspersion  which  had  been  cast  upon  him,  on 
account  of  his  supposed  insincerity  to  the  Protestant 
Church,  and  observed,  "  Because  some  malicious 
men  may,  and,  as  I  hear,  have  given  out,  that  I  am 
not  so  true  a  keeper  and  maintainer  of  the  true 
religion  that  I  profess,  I  assure  you  that  I  may 
with  St.  Paul  say,  that  I  have  been  trained  at 
Gamaliel's  feet ;  and,  although  I  shall  never  be  so 
arrogant  as  to  assume  unto  myself  the  rest,  I  shall 
so  far  shew  the  end  of  it,  that  all  the  world  may 
see  that  none  hath  been,  or  ever  shall  be,  more  de- 
sirous to  maintain  the  truth  than  I  shall."  The 
zealots,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  nevertheless, 
were  not  satisfied  with  these  declarations,  although 
they  well  knew  that  the  King,  even  were  he  so  in- 
clined, could  make  no  alterations  in  the  Church 
without  the  consent  of  the  people.  They  accord- 
ingly presented  petitions  to  Charles,  proposing 
certain  articles  to  restrain  the  Papists  ;  yet  these, 
though  many  of  them  breathing  the  very  spirit  of 
intolerance,  received  the  royal  sanction l. 

The  Puritan  historian  remarks,  that  "  it  is  sur- 
prising the  King  should  make  these  promises  to  his 
Parliament  within  six  months  after  he  had  signed 
his  marriage  articles,  in  which  he  had  engaged  to 
set  all  Roman  Catholics  at  liberty,  and  to  suffer 

1  Rushworth's  Col.  vol.  i.  p.  172.  Clarendon's  History  of 
Rebel,  vol.  i.  p.  21.  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  p.  1.  Rapin, 
vol.  ii.  p.  140.  Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  733,  et  seq.  Neal,  vol.  ii. 
p.  161,  162,  163.  Diary,  p.  20.  Heylin,  p.  129. 


272  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

no  search  or  molestation  to  be  given  them  on 
account  of  their  religion  ;  but,"  observes  he,  "  as 
a  judicious  writer  (Rapin)  says,  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  maxim  in  this  and  the  last  reign,  that  no 
faith  was  to  be  kept  with  Parliament."  Now,  had 
this  miserable  politician,  when  he  thought  proper 
to  descant  on  political  subjects  in  his  puritanical 
lucubrations,  taken  into  account  the  marriage  treaty, 
the  "  promises  to  the  Parliament,"  and  the  King's 
motives,  he  might  have  seen  the  absurdity  of  his 
speculations.  For,  in  conformity  with  the  Church 
of  England,  which  is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  most 
tolerant  Church  in  the  world  towards  sectaries, 
the  King  promised  no  more  than  what  he  was  ad- 
vised by  those  very  churchmen  whom  the  Puritans 
reviled  as  tyrannical  and  intolerant.  But  if  the 
Church  was  intolerant,  how,  then,  could  it  be  the 
reverse,  as  the  language  of  these  men  is -evidently 
contradictory  ?  They  had  a  toleration,  and  why 
not  the  Papists  ?  they  were  both  sectarians  and 
schismatics,  there  was  no  difference  between  them, 
except  that  the  Papists  went  to  the  one  extreme  of 
absurdity,  and  they  to  the  other ;  nor,  in  truth,  were 
there  greater  errors  uttered  at  the  Romish  masses, 
than  in  their  own  conventicles.  A  toleration  is  widely 
different  from  an  emancipation  :  it  is  one  thing  not 
to  molest  a  man  for  his  religion,  and  another  thing 
to  admit  him  into  power.  But  what  says  the  King's 
letter  to  the  Pope,  as  reported  by  Neal  himself? 
"  Charles  declared  that  he  would  not  marry  any 
mortal  whose  religion  he  hated,  he  (the  Pope)  might 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  273 

therefore  depend  upon  it,  that  he  would  always 
abstain  from  such  actions  as  might  testify  an  hatred 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  would  endea- 
vour that  all  sinister  opinions  might  be  taken  away, 
that,  as  we  all  profess  one  individual  Trinity,  we  may 
unanimously  grow  up  in  one  faith."  It  is  evident 
that  the  King  here  speaks  as  an  individual,  not  as 
the  head  of  the  English  nation ;  and,  besides,  it  does 
not  follow,  that  since  he  was  not  to  hate  the  Popish 
faith,  he  was  therefore  to  love  it.  The  most  shallow 
logician  must  have  seen,  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
King,  and  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  refer  merely  to 
private  matters,  and,  in  conformity  to  that  proposed 
treaty,  he  bound  himself  not  to  make  his  kingdom 
a  scene  of  persecution  and  bloodshed,  which  would 
have  been  highly  gratifying  to  the  Puritans,  who 
would  have  rejoiced,  notwithstanding  their  clamours 
about  liberty,  to  have  seen  the  soil  of  England 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  Papists,  who  were  gene- 
rally as  conscientiously  sincere  in  their  religion  as 
themselves.  But,  then,  had  those  zealots  not  in- 
dulged such  opinions,  they  could  not  have  set 
forth  their  assertions  about  Popery,  and  the  people 
would  not  have  been  alarmed  by  their  own  visionary 
fears.  They  knew  well  that  the  King  was  too  de- 
voted to  the  Protestant  Church,  and  surrounded  by 
too  many  who  were  its  zealous  defenders,  to  yield 
to  the  persuasions  of  the  Queen,  even  allowing  that 
"  she  wasf  a  very  great  bigot  to  her  religion,"  go- 
verned by  her  confessor,  and  assisted  by  the  Pope's 
nuncio. 

VOL.  i.  ,  T 


274  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

But  the  Puritan  historian  makes  the  most  extra- 
ordinary assertion  of  all,  when  he  says,  that,  on 
account  of  the  Queen's  influence,  "  the  nation  was 
governed  by  Popish  councils  till  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment," known  by  its  classical  name  of  the  Rump. 
And  this  assertion  is  the  more  extraordinary,  inas- 
much as  he  admits  that  Charles  was  sincere  in  his 
religion,  "  had  good  natural  abilities,"  and,  "  with 
regard  to  the  Church,  he  was  a  punctual  observer 
of  the  ceremonies,  and  had  the  highest  dislike  and 
prejudice  to  that  part  of  his  subjects  that  were 
against  the  ecclesiastical  constitution."  I  will,  how- 
ever, endeavour  to  shew,  in  answer  to  this  falsehood 
of  the  Puritan  historian,  that  the  King  invariably 
opposed  the  Papists ;  that  during  his  reign  they 
were  treated  with  neglect ;  and,  as  Neal  well  knew, 
the  unhappy  disputes  in  which  Charles  was  subse- 
quently engaged,  could  not,  from  their  very  nature, 
induce  him  to  listen  to  Popish  insinuations,  far  less 
to  place  himself  under  their  control.  As  to  the 
Queen,  indeed,  we  find  by  a  singular  change  of  feel- 
ing, that  Buckingham  invariably  opposed  her ;  and, 
towards  the  end  of  his  life,  publicly  encouraged 
those  who  belonged  to  the  Hugonot  faction  in 
France.  It  was  his  principal  design,  as  Lord  Cla- 
rendon expressly  informs  us,  to  estrange  Charles 
from  the  Queen ;  and  though  he  did  not  succeed, 
his  influence  at  court  was  sufficient  to  counteract 
the  intrigues  of  her  Popish  friends.  His  ambitious 
love  towards  Anne  of  Austria  was  the  cause,  and  as 
the  French  opposed  him  in  his  intentions,  "  he  took 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  275 

all  the  ways  he  could,"  says  Clarendon,  "  to  under- 
value and  exasperate  that  court  and  nation,  by 
causing  all  those  that  fled  from  the  justice  and  dis- 
pleasure of  that  King  to  be  received  and  entertained 
here,  not  only  with  ceremony  and  security,  but  with 
bounty  and  magnificence  :  and  the  more  extraordi- 
nary the  persons  were,  and  the  more  notorious  their 
King's  displeasure  was  towards  them,  (as  in  that 
time  there  were  many  lords  and  ladies  in  that  situ- 
ation), the  more  respectfully  they  were  received  and 
entertained.  He  omitted  no  opportunity,"  conti- 
nues the  noble  writer,  and  here  are  the  most  re- 
markable facts,  "  to  incense  the  King  against 
France,  and  to  dispose  him  to  assist  the  Hugonots, 
whom  he  likewise  encouraged  to  give  their  King 
some  trouble.  He  also  took  great  pains  to  lessen 
the  King's  affection  towards  his  Queen,  being  ex- 
ceedingly jealous  lest  her  interest  might  be  of  force 
enough  to  cross  his  other  designs,  and  had  even 
brought  himself,  against  his  nature,  to  a  habit  of 
neglect,  and  even  of  rudeness,  towards  the  Queen. 
And  it  was  universally  known,  that  during  his  life, 
the  Queen  never  had  any  credit  with  the  King,  in 
reference  to  any  public  affairs."  Now,  in  quoting, 
as  Neal  has  done,  from  Lord  Clarendon,  it  did  not 
become  him,  as  a  candid  writer,  to  suppress  those 
facts  as  related  by  the  very  authority  to  whom  he 
refers,  and  to  set  down  his  own  sectarian  notions, 
as  the  real  state  of  the  case. 

But  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  proceedings 
of  this  Parliament.     It  will  be  remqmbered  that 

T'2 


276  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

Montague,  who  had  signalized  himself  by  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  Papists,  had  written  and  published 
a  book,  entitled,  "  A  new  Gag  for  an  old  Goose," 
in  answer  to  the  effusion  of  the  Papists,  entitled, 
"  A  Gag  for  the  new  Gospel."  Montague  had 
given  great  offence  to  the  Puritans  by  his  Arminian 
tenets,  as  they  were  called,  though,  to  use  the 
language  of  Dr.  Heylin,  "  the  entitling  of  these 
doctrines  to  the  name  of  Arminius,  seems  to  be 
like  the  nominating  of  the  great  Western  Conti- 
nent by  the  name  of  America,  of  which  first  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  and  afterwards  the  two  Cabots, 
father  and  son,  had  made  many  notable  and  great 
discoveries,  before  Americus  Vespusius  ever**  saw 
those  shores."  But  be  this  as  it  may,  so  cunning 
were  the  Puritans,  that  Arminianism  wras  invariably 
coupled  with  Popery,  although,  as  I  shall  imme- 
diately shew,  it  has  actually  much  less  connexion 
with  the  Romish  Church  than  Calvinism.  Mon- 
tague was,  however,  cited  by  the  Commons  to  ap- 
pear before  them,  being  more  especially  enraged 
against  him,  because  he  had  still  farther  exposed 
the  Puritan  fanaticism  in  a  work  entitled  "Appello 
Caesarem,"  intended  to  have  been  dedicated  to  King 
James,  but,  on  account  of  that  monarch's  death, 
inscribed  to  Charles  l.  Holding  Calvin's  doctrines 

1  Various  writers  entered  the  lists  against  Montague,  some 
of  them  connected  with  the  Doctrinal  Puritans  in  the  Church. 
Although  the  three  Bishops  petitioned  Buckingham  in  his  be- 
half, it  is  not  improbable  that  the  King  would  have  taken  no 
notice  of  the  affair,  but  left  the  polemics  to  settle  it  as  they 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  277 

in  greater  reverence  than  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
decrees  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  as  far  transcending  the 
decisions  of  the  First  General  Councils,  and  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;  the  Puritans  so  far  effected 
their  purpose  against  Montague,  that  he  was  con- 
demned to  find  sureties  for  the  sum  of  two  thousand 
pounds  till  the  next  meeting  of  Parliament. 

Here,  indeed,  was  a'most  edifying  procedure; — 
A  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  sitting  as 
theological  judges,  and  visiting  a  man  with  that 
heavy  penalty,  merely  because  he  had  not  vindi- 

pleased,  had  not  the  intolerable  conduct  of  the  Calvinists  ren- 
dered it  necessary  to  restrain  their  zeal.  On  this  occasion  Laud 
has  remarked,  "  I  seem  to  see  a  cloud  threatening  the  Church 
of  England.  God  in  his  mercy  dissipate  it."  The  fears  of  this 
wise  prelate  were  but  too  well  founded.  "  In  this  and  the  next 
year,"  says  Fuller,  the  Church  historian,  lib.  xi.  p.  108,  109, 
"  many  books,  from  persons  of  several  abilities  and  professions, 
were  written  against  Mr.  Montague,  by  Dr.  SutclifFe,  Dean  of 
Exeter,  one  who  was  miles  emeritus,  age  giving  him  a  supersc- 
deasj  save  that  his  zeal  would  employ  itself;  and  some  con- 
eeived  that  his  choler  became  his  old  age.  Mr.  Henry  Bur- 
ton, Rector  of  St.  Matthew's,  Friday-street,  London,  who  then 
began  to  be  well  (as  afterwards  too  well)  known  to  the  world. 
Mr.  Francis  Rouse,  a  layman  by  profession.  Mr.  Yates,  a 
minister  of  Norfolk,  formerly  a  Fellow  of  Emmanuel  College, 
Cambridge ;  he  entitles  his  book  Ibis  ad  Caesar  em.  Dr.  Carleton, 
Bishop  of  Chichester.  Antony  Wotton,  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  Gresham  College.  In  this  array  of  writers,  the  strength  is 
conceived  to  consist  in  the  rear,  and  that  the  last  wrote  the 
solidest  compositions.  Of  these  six,  Dean  SutclifFe  is  said  to 
have  chid  heartily,  Mr.  Rouse  meant  honestly,  Mr.  Burton 
wrote  plainly,  Bishop  Carleton  very  piously,  Mr.  Yates  learn- 
edly, and  Mr.  Wotton  most  solidly." 


278  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

cated  the  extravagances  of  Puritanism,  and  set 
forth  the  tenets  of  Calvin.  Fortunately,  Laud  was 
keeping  a  watchful  eye  on  their  conduct,  and,  after 
the  sentence,  knowing  well  that  such  intolerable 
conduct  would  prove  destructive  to  the  influence  and 
office  of  the  clergy,  he,  with  the  Bishops  of  Ro- 
chester and  Oxford,  dispatched  a  letter  to  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  entreating  him  to  engage  the  King 
to  take  the  subject  into  his  own  hands.  "  The 
opinions/'  they  allege,  "  that  at  this  time  trouble 
many  men  in  the  late  book  of  Mr.  Montague's, 
are  some  of  them  such  as  are  expressly  the  resolved 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  those  he 
is  bound  to  maintain.  Some  of  them  are  such  as 
are  fit  only  for  schools,  and  to  be  left  at  more 
liberty  for  learned  men  to  expound  in  their  own 
sense,  so  they  keep  themselves  peaceable,  and  dis- 
tract not  the  Church.  And,  therefore,  to  make  any 
man  subscribe  to  school  opinions,  may  seem  justly 
hard  on  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  was  one  great 
fault  of  the  Council  of  Trent."  They  then  declare 
that  these  matters  should  duly  be  decided  in  the 
Convocation,  with  the  King's  licence,  not  in  the 
Parliament ;  for,  "  if  any  other  judge  be  allowed 
in  matters  of  doctrine,  we  shall  depart  from  the 
ordinance  of  Christ,  and  the  continual  course  and 
practice  of  the  Church." 

This  remonstrance,  through  the  influence  of  the 
Duke,  had  the  desired  effect ;  the  King  revoked  the 
proceedings  of  the  Parliament,  and  declared  that 
he  himself  would  adopt  measures  to  investigate 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  279 

the  conduct  of  his  own  chaplain.  This  information 
was  given  on  the  9th  of  July l,  and  on  the  llth  the 
Parliament  was  prorogued  to  meet  at  Oxford,  on 
the  first  day  of  August ;  it  being  thought  safer  to 
convene  it  in  that  city  than  in  Westminster,  on 
account  of  the  prevalence  of  a  pestilential  disease. 

The  Parliament  assembled  at  Oxford,  but  it  was 
dissolved  after  sitting  twelve  days,  and  Charles  had 
a  bitter  experience  of  the  folly  of  depending  upon 
enthusiasts.  It  is  impossible  to  reflect  on  the  conduct 
of  this  first  parliament  of  Charles,  the  majority  of 
which  was  Puritanical,  without  viewing  it  with  feel- 
ings of  indignation.  In  fact,  it  too  plainly  indicated 
its  daring  intentions.     The  King  wanted  money, 
he  had  broken  with  Spain,  and  entered  into  a  war 
to  please  those  religious  zealots ;  but  how  could  he 
support  it,  far  less  preserve  his  'own  dignity  in  the 
eyes    of   continental  Europe,  without    the    most 
liberal  subsidies  ?    And  they  were  by  no  means  so 
ignorant  of  public  affairs  as  not  to  know,   that 
James  had  left  an  exhausted  treasury, — that  indeed 
throughout  his  reign  that  monarch  had  been  kept  in 
continual  poverty, — and  that,  as  good  and  loyal 
subjects,  it  was  their  duty  to  rally  round  the  person 
of  their  young  sovereign,  and  enable  him  to  rescue 
the  name  of  Britain  from  that  degradation  into 
which  they  alleged  it  had  sunk  by  the  peaceful 
administration  of  his  father.     But  they  had  con- 
trived to  get  the  King  into  their  power,  and,  like 

1  Laud's  Diary,  p  20. 


280  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

skilful  hunters,  they  were  resolved  he  should  not 
escape  from  their  toils.  The  ancient  revenues  of 
the  English  crown,  which  had  filled  the  coffers  of 
Henry  VII.  and  his  successor,  had,  by  this  time, 
become  either  completely  alienated,  or  were  un- 
productive, and  were  unable,  as  James  well  knew, 
to  support  the  necessary  splendour  of  the  Court, 
to  defray  the  expences  of  the  government,  or  to 
preserve  that  dignity  which  it  was  necessary  to  main- 
tain in  the  eyes  of  foreign  nations.  And  preced- 
ing parliaments  had  done  this.  They  had  by  de- 
grees encroached  upon  the  crown,  and  at  length 
had  bereft  it  of  almost  all  its  feudal  emoluments ; 
and  now,  when  subsidies  were  demanded,  instead  of 
affording  them,  they  commenced  upon  their  usual 
theme,  the  royal  prerogative  ;  and,  notwithstanding 
all  Charles'  concessions,  continually  demanded  from 
him  some  new  compensation.  The  leaven  of  repub- 
licanism, derived  from  its  great  sources,  Holland 
and  Geneva,  had  gradually  spread  among  the  peo- 
ple :  the  Puritans  in  the  Church,  and  the  Puritans 
out  of  the  Church,  had  contemplated  it  with  rap- 
turous enthusiasm ;  and  as  they  had  long  secretly 
aimed  at  the  fall  of  the  Church,  they  rejoiced  that 
they  had  successfully  placed  those  models  before 
the  eyes  of  the  people.  The  Calvinists,  with  that 
thirst  for  novelty  which  is  the  natural  offspring  of 
their  tenets,  were  incessantly  employing  themselves 
about  changes  in  religion,  and  as  they  held  a  pecu- 
liar tenet  respecting  what  they  called  the  kingship 
of  Christ  in  his  Church,  they  connected  this  dogma 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  281 

with  their  political  notions,  and  consequently  be- 
came insolent  and  contemptuous  towards  the  civil 
government.  They  had  taught  their  adherents, 
especially  those  among  the  populace,  that  whatever 
they  could  wrest  from  the  authority  of  the  King 
was  a  glorious  achievement ;  if  some  paused  before 
they  credited  their  opinions,  a  hint  about  the  royal 
prerogative  excited  their  fanaticism ;  and  what  was 
it  to  those  zealots,  though  they  laid  prostrate  the 
monarchy,  if,  under  the  pretence  of  religion,  their 
enthusiasm  acquired  the  ascendancy  ?  They  knew 
that  Charles  wished  to  aid  his  brother-in-law,  the 
Elector,  who  had  been  deprived  of  his  dominions, 
and  driven  into  exile ;  natural  affection  prompted 
the  King  to  this  measure,  and,  above  all,  a  regard 
for  the  Protestant  interest  in  Germany,  which  might 
in  its  ruin  overwhelm  Europe  with  calamities.  And 
yet,  such  was  the  inconsistency  of  the  Calvinistic 
faction,  that  though  they  had  violently  condemned 
James  for  not  at  once  supporting  the  Elector,  never- 
theless, when  the  political  state  of  Europe  assumed 
a  new  aspect,  they  would  not  enable  his  successor 
to  take  a  single  step  towards  his  own  security. 

But  it  was  the  grand  feature  of  the  Calvinistic 
faction,  and  of  all  those  who  opposed  the  Church, 
to  undermine  the  royal  power  by  pretended  suspi- 
cions of  the  King's  sincerity  in  religion ;  by  complain- 
ing of  grievances  which  were  alleged  to  have  re- 
sulted from  the  abuse  of  the  royal  prerogative ;  and 
by  refusing  the  necessary  supplies,  till  the  most 
extravagant  and  unconstitutional  demands  were 


282  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

granted.  Buckingham  was  indeed  the  minister,  but 
of  what  avail  was  his  impeachment,  since  it  was  evi- 
dent, that,  obnoxious  as  he  was  to  them,  his  removal 
could  not  in  the  least  affect  Charles'  situation  ?  The 
King,  therefore,  acted  in  the  issue  as  he  was  com- 
pelled to  do,  and  nothing  saved  him  from  being 
overwhelmed  by  the  difficulties  those  zealots  were 
industriously  creating,  but  the  sudden  dissolution  of 
the  Parliament.  And  the  conduct  of  its  members 
evidently  proves,  that  they  were  not  disinterested 
patriots,  sober,  and  enlightened,  but  factious  mal- 
contents, who,  under  the  pretence  of  religion,  re- 
solved to  disturb  the  commonwealth.  Not  a  single 
excuse  can  be  assigned  for  their  baseness.  They  well 
knew  that  they  were  secure  in  themselves  ;  that  the 
existing  laws  completely  protected  them  from  any 
arbitrary  encroachments  ;  that  they  had  the  sole 
power  of  relieving  and  controling  the  King's  pecu- 
niary necessities  ;  that  they  had  a  legislative  autho- 
rity, and  consequently  had  sufficient  influence  to 
procure  redress.  But  the  King  had  a  voice  in  the 
legislation  as  well  as  they,  and  if  his  power  was  not 
to  be  exercised,  what  necessity  was  there  for  a  mo- 
narchy at  all  ?  Charles,  by  his  eagerness  to  call  a 
Parliament,  had  given  a  most  convincing  proof  of 
his  desire  for  a  parliamentary  government;  and 
nothing  but  their  own  base  malice  could  encourage 
the  insinuation,  that,  like  his  father,  he  disliked  the 
business  of  the  Lower  House.  He  met  his  first  Par- 
liament, not  doubting  that  the  members  would 
supply  his  necessities,  though  their  conduct  in  the 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  283 

latter  years  of  his  father's  reign  might  have  made 
his  expectations  less  sanguine.  But  the  ignorance, 
malice,  bitter  selfishness,  factious  ambition,  and 
wretched  enthusiasm  of  the  Calvinists  in  this  Parlia- 
ment disappointed  his  hopes,  and  frustrated  his 
generous  intentions ;  and  they  are  to  be  charged  with 
all  the  guilt,  and  misery,  and  bloodshed,  which  cha- 
racterise this  most  disastrous  reign.  Nor  could 
Charles  be  condemned,  although  the  allegation 
against  him  were  true,  that  he  was,  in  after  life, 
averse  to  parliamentary  government.  He  saw  the 
Puritan  faction  in  every  succeeding  Parliament  in- 
crease, and  he  recollected  their  conduct  when  first 
he  met  them.  He  beheld  them  determined  to  adopt 
the  republicanism  of  Holland,  and  it  was  his  duty 
to  defeat  their  treachery ;  he  was  not  ignorant  of 
the  dark  practices  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians, 
who,  in  their  desire  to  secure  to  themselves  a  power 
as  tyrannical  as  that  of  Rome,  trampled  on  the 
laws  of  the  nation,  and  spurned  with  fanatical  dis- 
dain the  calmness  of  prudent  investigation l. 

After  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  we  find  Laud 
employing  himself  in  making  a  visitation  of  his 


1  I  have  formerly  animadverted  on  the  phrase,  "  No  bishop, 
no  king."  It  is  proper  to  observe,  however,  that  the  episcopal 
government  is  more  agreeable  to  the  spirit  of  monarchy  than  any 
other ;  and  James  can  be  justified  in  his  remark,  although  there 
were  no  arguments  adduced  as  to  the  jus  divinum  of  Episcopacy. 
Presbyterianism  is  irreverent  and  republican  in  its  form  ;  and 
it  must  be  recollected,  that  it  was,  in  that  age,  like  civil  republi- 
canism, a  new  invention. 


281  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

diocese  of  St.  David's,  on  which  occasion  he  con- 
secrated the  chapel  which  he  had  built  at  Aber- 
guilly,  on  his  promotion  to  the  See l.  About  the  mid- 
dle of  winter  the  Bishop  returned  to  London,  and 
on  his  arrival  at  Court  he  found  no  slight  alteration. 
Bishop  Williams  had,  by  the  intrigues  of  Buck- 
ingham, been  deprived  of  the  Great  Seal,  which 
was  given  to  the  Attorney  General,  Sir  Thomas 
Coventry2.  Williams,  thus  deprived  of  this  im- 
portant office,  speedily  declined  in  the  favour  of  the 
King,  while  he  found  his  rival,  towards  whom  he 
most  unjustly  cherished  a  secret  e,nmity,  as  rapidly 
rising  in  the  royal  confidence. 

At  this  time,,  too,  and  this  is  a  fact  which  still 
farther  proves  the  falsity  of  the  Puritan  historian, 
the  King  issued  a  proclamation,  rigidly  enforcing 
all  laws  against  the  Popish  recusants,  which  he  com- 
manded to  be  published  at  Reading,  where  the 
assizes  were  then  held ;  and  he  also  caused  two  let- 
ters to  be  addressed  to  the  Archbishops  of  Canter- 
bury and  York,  signifying  to  them,  "  that  no  good 
means  be  neglected  on  their  part  for  discovering, 
finding  out,  and  apprehending  of  mercenary  priests 
and  Jesuits,  and  other  seducers  of  the  people  to  the 
Romish  religion;"  and  also,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
enjoined  the  two  Primates  to  observe  "  that  a  vigi- 
lant care  be  taken  with  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  for 
the  repressing  of  those  who,  being  ill-affected  to  the 
true  religion  here  established,  keep  more  close  and 

1  Diary,  p.  22,  23.  *  Ibid,  p.  24. 


1625.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  285 

secret  their  ill  and  dangerous  affections  that  way, 
and,  as  well  by  their  example,  as  by  their  secret  and 
underhand  contrivances,  do  much  encourage  and 
increase  the  growth  of  Popery  and  superstition  in 
different  parts  of  this  kingdom  V 

The  Archbishop  of  York,  in  obedience  to  the 
royal  proclamation,  sent  letters  to  the  suffragans 
of  his  province,  making  known  to  them  the  senti- 
ments of  the  King,  and  commanding  them  to  in- 
struct their  clergy  diligently,  to  restrain  and  coun- 
teract the  designs  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  emis- 
saries, and  also  to  be  no  less  watchful  of  the  Puri- 
tans, who  were  as  indefatigable  as  the  Papists  in 
their  endeavours  to  subvert  the  Reformed  Church, 
or,  at  least,  to  model  it  according  to  their  own 
notions  in  polity  and  doctrine.  But  Abbot,  who 
had  more  than  once  presumed  to  dispute  the  royal 
mandate,  acted  according  to  his  usual  custom.  He 
had  no  objection  to  persecute  the  Papists,  on  the 
contrary,  he  would  have  heartily  rejoiced  to  have 
beheld  them  extirpated  with  fire  and  sword ;  and 
such,  indeed,  was  the  very  spirit  of  the  zealots 
whom  he  patronised,  who,  in  their  unsufferable  pre- 
tensions to  purity,  their  arrogant  pretensions  to 
exclusive  supremacy,  and  their  firm  devotion  to 
the  doctrines  of  Geneva,  did  not  yield  in  the 
slightest  degree  to  the  Papal  power.  He  accord- 
ingly issued  letters  to  the  suffragans  of  his  pro- 
vince, of  whom  Laud  was  one,  in  which  he  rigidly 

]  Heylin,p.  134. 


286  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

enforced  the  King's  command,  so  far  as  the  re- 
cusants were  concerned,  but  he"  took  no  notice  of 
the  other  part  of  the  royal  proclamation,  which  bore 
against  the  Puritan  extravagances.  The  motives 
of  his  conduct  in  this  respect  were  sufficiently  ob- 
vious, for,  if  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  enforced  a 
vigilant  cognizance  of  men  who  were  as  dogmatical 
and  superstitious  in  their  own  way  as  the  Papists,  he 
would  have  acted  contrary  to  that  policy  which  he 
had  unfortunately  adopted  during  a  primacy  so  dis- 
astrous to  the  Church.  Moreover,  he  knew  well 
that  Laud,  whom  he  still  regarded  with  enmity, 
would  be  mortified  that  he  could  have  no  authority 
to  proceed  against  those  whom  he  had  invariably 
opposed,  inasmuch  as  he  was  his  suffragan,  and 
amenable  to  him,  if  he  disputed  his  commands.  But 
Laud,  though  he  would  have  been  justified  in  acting 
upon  the  King's  proclamation  to  the  very  letter, 
resolved  to  fulfil  Abbot's  injunctions,  and  accord- 
ingly, on  receiving  them,  he  directed  the  ecclesi- 
astical officers  of  his  diocese  to  make  diligent 
search  after  all  Popish  recusants,  and  those  who 
were  ill-affected  towards  the  Protestant  religion, 
that  proceedings  might  be  instituted  against,  them 
to  excommunication,  according  to  law,  "  and  that 
there  be  a  true  list  and  catalogue  of  all  such  as 
have  been  presented  and  proceeded  against,  sent  to 
him  yearly  after  Easter,  to  be  by  him  presented  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  had  been  required." 
No  commands,  however,  were  given  about  the  Pu- 
ritans, which  can  easily  be  accounted  for  when  we 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  287 

consider  the  nature  of  Abbot's  letter;  The  Chan- 
cellor of  St.  David's  was  diligent  in  the  duty  im- 
posed on  him,  and  in  the  month  of  June  a  list  of 
Popish  recusants  in  the  diocese  was  transmitted  to 
the  Bishop.  The  same  was  done  in  all  the  other 
dioceses l. 

About  this  time  we  find  Laud  indefatigable  in  his 
episcopal  exertions,  preaching  in  various  places, 
and  giving  the  most  ample  demonstrations  of  his 
regard  for  religion  and  the  Church,  by  refusing  to 
ordain  any  one  whom  he  found  to  be  unqualified  for 
the  sacred  office 2.  But  the  day  of  Charles'  coro- 
nation was  now  approaching,  and  the  necessary 
preparations  were  made,  in  which  Laud  assisted,  for 
the  celebration  of  that  splendid  and  solemn  cere- 
mony. On  the  4th  of  January,  1625-6,  he  was 
appointed  by  the  King  to  preach  the  sermon  at  the 
opening  of  the  Parliament  on  the  6th  of  February 
ensuing;  but  a  much  greater  mark  of  the  royal 
favour  was  in  reserve  for  him,  as  a  reward  of  his 
faithful  services.  Bishop  Williams,  on  account  of 
his  disgrace,  had  retired  from  Court,  and  the  King, 
who  seems  to  have  been  greatly  displeased  with 
him,  intimated  to  Laud,  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  that  he  was  to  supply  his  place  at  the 
coronation,  as  Dean  of  Westminster 3.  This  was 
a  sufficient  indication  to  Williams  that  his  influence 
was  at  an  end,  more  especially  as  the  attendance 
of  the  Deans  of  Westminster  is  indispensable  at 

1  Heylin,  p.  135,         2  Diary,  p.  23,  24.         3  Ibid.  p.  2£. 

7 


288  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1625. 

that  solemnity.  As  successors  of  the  ancient  ab- 
bots of  that  venerable  and  magnificent  foundation, 
as  keepers  of  the  regalia  and  guardians  of  those 
sacred  relics  connected  with  the  ancient  monarchy 
of  Britain,  it  belongs  to  them,  in  right  of  their 
exalted  dignity,  to  officiate  with  the  Primate  in  his 
solemn  and  important  duties.  The  Dean,  on  re- 
ceiving the  King's  commands,  was  at  a  loss  how  to 
act.  He  could  not  dispute  them,  because  Charles 
had  signified  that  he  was  to  appoint  one  of  the 
prebends  to  supply  his  place,  which,  had  the  King 
not  done  so,  but  appointed  another  ecclesiastic,  un- 
connected with  the  Abbey,  would  have  been  an  en- 
croachment on  the  privileges  of  the  Chapter.  Of 
course,  the  Bishop  had  no  inclination  to  nominate 
Laud,  whom  he  unjustly  considered  as  his  enemy 
and  his  rival,  and  to  whom  he  more  unjustly  as- 
cribed his  disgrace  at  Court;  but,  unfortunately 
for  him,  Laud  was  the  only  one  of  the  prebends  who 
had  been  raised  to  the  episcopate,  and,  conse- 
quently, he  could  not,  from  his  situation,  be  sup- 
planted by  those  of  inferior  degree.  The  Dean, 
therefore,  declined  nominating  any  one  in  particu- 
lar, but  transmitted  a  list  of  all  the  prebends,  with 
their  respective  stations,  to  the  Court,  and  left  it 
to  the  King  to  choose  whom  he  pleased.  Laud 
was  at  once  appointed,  without  any  efforts  of  his 
own,  and,  on  the  17th  of  January,  Bishop  Williams 
ratified  the  appointment,  by  formally  deputing  him 
to  supply  his  place  as  Dean  of  Westminster. 

As  it  was  Laud's  duty  to  superintend  the  regalia, 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  289 

there  is  one  thing  here  which  must  not  be  passed 
over  in  silence,  more  especially  as  his  enemies  after- 
wards improved  it  to  their  own  advantage.  While 
he  was  giving  directions  respecting  the  crown, 
sword,  sceptre,  &c.  previous  to  the  solemnity,  he 
discovered  an  old  silver  crucifix,  which  formed  part 
of  the  regalia,  and  he  ordered  it  to  be  placed,  as 
is  wont,  upon  the  altar.  The  cry  of  Popery  was  in- 
stantly raised,  and  his  enemies  magnified  this  simple 
act  as  if  it  would  inevitably  call  down  the  judgment 
of  Heaven  upon  the  whole  nation.  The  clamour 
has  been  repeated  in  more  recent  times  ;  and  be- 
cause the  Bishop  placed  this  appendage  of  the 
regalia  upon  the  altar,  it  has  been  held  as  conclusive 
to  prove  the  badness  of  his  heart 1.  Now,  I  need 
scarcely  stop  to  mention,  that  with  respect  to  a  mere 
crucifix,  there  can  be  no  harm,  though  there  were 
one  in  every  church  in  the  kingdom.  For  what  is  a 

1  This  fact  is  on  the  authority  of  Heylin,  p.  1 44,  and  I  have 
adopted  it,  as  it  is  a  matter  of  very  little  consequence,  whether  or 
not  Laud  found  the  crucifix  and  ordered  it  to  be  set  up,  though 
his  enemies  made  the  most  of  it  at  his  trial.  It  is  proper,  however, 
to  mention,  that  the  Bishop  denies  the  affair,  or  at  least  treats 
it  with  indifference.  I  give  his  own  words.  "  They  say,  there 
was  a  crucifix  among  the  regalia,  and  that  it  stood  upon  the  altar 
at  the  coronation,  and  that  I  did  not  except  against  it.  My 
predecessor  (Abbot)  executed  at  that  time,  and  I  believe  would 
have  excepted  against  the  crucifix  had  it  stood  there.  But  I  re- 
member not  any  there.  Yet  if  there  were,  if  my  predecessor 
approved  the  standing  of  it,  or  were  content  to  connive  at  it,  it 
would  have  been  made  but  a  scorn  had  I  quarrelled  at  it." — 
History  of  Troubles  and  Trialsrp.  318. 

VOL.  I.  U 


290  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

crucifix  but  a  mere  cross,  and  who  in  those  days,  as 
in  our  own,  Papists  always  excepted,  believed  that 
there  was  any  virtue  in  the  materials  of  which  it 
might  have  been  constructed  ?  The  Church  of 
England  permits  this  sign  over  many  of  the  com- 
munion tables,  not  that  its  members  believe,  any 
more  than  the  sturdiest  sectarian,  that  it  is  of  essen- 
tial consequence,  or  that  it  can  in  any  way  add  to 
the  sanctity  of  the  Christian  temple,  but  merely  as 
an  emblem,  in  which  every  man  ought  to  glory,  as 
significant  of,  and  fit  at  all  times  to  call  to  his 
remembrance  the  price  paid  for,  his  redemption. 
There  must,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  human 
mind,  be  some  external  means  to  awaken  mental 
association ;  and  the  error  consists  not  in  the  adop- 
tion or  the  practice  of  any  ceremony  or  sign  in  reli- 
gion, but  in  superstitiously  assigning  a  virtue  to  it, 
which  it  cannot  possess.  If,  in  worldly  practice,  men 
depict  their  family  treasures  with  their  armorial 
bearings,  their  crests,  and  their  peculiar  distinctions, 
ought  a  Christian  to  be  indignant  when  he  beholds 
the  badge  of  his  salvation,  which,  above  all  things,  is 
so  calculated  to  remind  him  of  the  sufferings  of  Him 
who  endured  a  shameful  and  a  painful  death,  that 
all  men,  if  they  repent,  might  be  made  partakers  of 
the  life  immortal  ?  Let  it  be  observed,  too,  that  I 
am  talking  of  religious  rites,  of  those  solemn  occa- 
sions when  men  of  every  degree  bow  before  the 
throne  of  grace,  and  confess  that  they  are  miserable 
sinners,  and  present  their  prayers  not  to  the  ina- 
nimate objects  around  them,  but  to  Him  who  is 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  291 

every  where  present,  and  more  peculiarly  so  in  his 
holy  temples.  Concerning  the  Papists,  their  super- 
stitious delusions  in  the  homage  which  they  render 
to  the  sign  of  the  cross,  are  to  be  avoided'  as  fear- 
fully dangerous  ;  nor  need  I  remind  the  reader  of 
the  impostures  they  practised  on  men  during  the 
prevalence  of  their  superstition.  But  it  is  one  thing 
to  admit  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  another  thing  to 
worship  it,  or  to  address  to  it  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions. And  here  let  us  pause,  and  see  whether  the 
extravagances  of  the  Puritans,  as  to  this  harmless 
sign,  proceeded  not  too  far.  While  the  more  ra- 
tional and  the  more  learned  of  the  Reformers  rightly 
imagined,  that  they  were  to  carry  on  the  warfare 
not  so  much  against  the  Church,  as  against  the 
gross  doctrines  and  the  scandalous  lives  of  the 
clergy,  the  more  violent,  and  especially  those  who 
had  departed  from  Rome  to  the  other  extreme 
at  Geneva,  embarked  in  a  crusade  against  every 
thing  which  seemed  an  encroachment  on  their 
strange  ideas  of  simplicity  and  spirituality.  Accord- 
ingly, in  some  places  on  the  continent,  and  more 
especially  in  Scotland,  the  zealots  of  which  country 
were  afterwards  faithfully  imitated  by  the  sectarian 
fanatics  who  overturned  the  constitution  to  gratify 
Cromwell's  hypocritical  ambition,  they  made  the 
most  wanton  attacks  on  the  churches  and  the  pro- 
perty of  ecclesiastics,  burning  and  destroying  books, 
pictures,  and  other  ancient  remains ;  with  fanatical 
fury  pulling  down  buildings,  and  stalking  with 
gloomy  pride  and  savage  exultation  over  the  vene- 

u2 


292  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

rable  ruins,  merely  because  they  had  this  inoffensive 
sign,  as  if  the  very  stone  walls  had  been  contami- 
nated. Nothing  could  stop  the  "pitiful  devasta- 
tion1" of  those  phrenzied  assailants,  until  they  prac- 
tised to  the  very  letter  the  deplorable  language  of 
one  of  their  most  ferocious  leaders,  "  Down  with 
the  nests,  and  the  rooks  will  fly  away2."  What, 
then,  can  be  said  of  such  deplorable  enthusiasm,  but 
this,  that  when  men  break  loose  from  the  salutary 
restraints  of  civil  society,  and  contend  not  for  a  re- 
formation only,  but  for  the  mastery,  they  mistake 
the  impulses  of  their  passions  for  the  dictates  of  re- 
ligion, and  they  glory  in  the  gratification  of  prin- 
ciples which  are  not  less  dangerously  superstitious 
than  those  against  which  they  contend  ?  And  hence 
it  is,  that  because  some  men  act  not  so  outrageously 
as  themselves,  they  feed  their  disappointment  and 
revenge  by  false  insinuations,  which  they  are  con- 
scious are  not  only  false,  but  the  mere  dictates  of 
their  own  imaginations. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1625-6,  Charles  I.  was 
crowned.  Archbishop  Abbot,  in  virtue  of  his  office, 
placed  the  crown  upon  the  King's  head,  though 
the  Primate  was  hardly  able  to  officiate,  from  the 
state  of  his  health.  Laud  performed  his  duty  as 
Dean  of  Westminster  on  this  solemn  occasion.  Dr. 
Senhouse,  who  had  been  the  King's  chaplain  when 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  now  Bishop  of  Carlisle, 

1  Spottiswoode's  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  175. 
3  John  Knox,  Bishop  Keith's  History,  folio. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  293 

preached  the  coronation  sermon,  from  Rev.  xi.  10. 
"  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life,"  —  a  remarkable 
text,  when  we  consider  the  death  of  this  Monarch, 
—  and  the  sermon  being  chiefly  on  the  vanity  of  all 
earthly  things,  it  was  subsequently  recollected  by 
many  as  strangely  presaging  the  melancholy  disas- 
ters of  this  reign.  The  coronation  oath  was  de- 
manded by  the  Primate,  and,  after  the  solemnity 
was  ended,  the  ensigns  of  royalty  were  delivered  to 
Laud,  as  pro  tempore  Dean  of  the  Abbey1. 

Laud,  however,  has  not  escaped  censure  on  ac- 
count of  the  share  he  sustained  in  the  solemnities 
of  the  coronation.  His  Puritan  enemies,  because 
he  was  at  this  time  in  favour  with  the  King,  have 
charged  him  with  altering  the  coronation  oath,  and 
making  it  very  different  from  that  which  ought  to 
have  been  taken.  Now,  when  we  reflect  on  the 
impossibility  of  this,  even  admitting  that  Laud  en- 
tertained such  a  design,  we  shall  at  once  see  the 
falseness  of  this  charge.  Abbot  was  Primate,  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Calvinists,  and  the  pa- 
tron of  the  Puritans  ;  it  was  his  duty  to  attend  to 
this  important  affair,  and,  in  fact,  he  was  alone 
accountable  for  it,  if  there  had  been  any  alteration. 
He  and  Laud  had  no  intercourse  with  each  other, 
they  had  been  at  decided  variance  from  the  very 
first,  and  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  for  a  moment, 
that  Abbot  was  so  ignorant  or  so  careless  as  to 
permit  such  an  alteration.  And  had  it  been  so> 


1  Fuller's  Church  History,  lib.  xi.  p.  121— 


294  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1620. 

was  he  the  man  to  keep  silence  on  the  subject  ? 
We  have  seen  him  exerting  himself  on  other  occa- 
sions of  less  importance,  and  when,  by  his  conduct, 
he  was  actually  undermining  the  Church,  was  it 
at  all  likely  that  he  would  be  listless  on  an  occasion 
which  involved  the  safety  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion ?  He  was  too  furious  against  the  Papists  in 
his  own  way,  not  to  render  any  encouragement 
to  them  hopeless ;  and  besides,  from  the  opinion 
which  he  chose  to  entertain  of  Laud,  he  would  be 
more  cautious  of  him  than  of  any  other,  though  he 
well  knew  that  Laud  was  not  more  friendly  to  the 
Papists  than  himself.  It  seems  clear,  were  there 
no  other  proof,  from  the  very  circumstance  of  Ab- 
bot being  Primate  at  the  time,  that  the  coronation 
oath  was  not  altered  in  a  single  phrase. 

But,  without  commenting  on  Charles'  known 
hostility  to  the  Papists,  which  he  especially  mani- 
fested in  his  Instructions  to  the  Archbishops,  Dec. 
15, — on  the  rashness  of  the  subject  who  would  pre- 
sume to  alter  an  oath,  which,  had  he  done  so,  might 
have  brought  him  to  the  block — on  the  fact,  that  the 
Puritans,  ever  endeavouring  to  pry  into  these  sub- 
jects, said  nothing  about  it  at  the  time, — and  on  the 
notorious  truth,  that  it  was  a  mere  calumny,  in- 
vented afterwards  by  Laud's  enemies,  to  promote 
their  own  designs,  and  as  a  pretence  for  covering 
their  atrocities,  we  shall  form  a  correct  estimate  of 
the  nature, of  this  invidious  charge  from  the  facts  of 
the  case.  First,  then,  let  us  observe  the  oath  said  to 
have  been  taken  by  Charles,  with  the  ancient  form 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  295 

of  the  coronation  oath  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II. 
which  is  the  most  ancient  in  print ;  and,  secondly, 
let  us  observe  the  charges  against  Laud,  and  by 
whom  they  are  advanced. 

"  Sir,  (said  the  Archbishop  to  Charles)  will  you 
grant  and  keep,  and  by  your  oath  confirm,  to  the 
people  of  England,  the  laws  and  customs  to  them 
granted  by  the  Kings  of  England,  your  lawful  and 
religious  predecessors,  and  namely,  the  laws,  cus- 
toms, and  practices,  granted  to  the  clergy  by  the 
glorious  King  St.  Edward,  your  predecessor,  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  God,  the  true  profession  of 
the  gospel  established  in  this  kingdom,  agreeable 
to  the  prerogative  of  the  Kings  thereof,  and  the 
ancient  customs  of  this  realm  ? — Will  you  keep 
peace  and  godly  agreement,  according  to  your 
power,  both  to  God,  the  holy  Church,  the  clergy, 
and  the  people  ? — Will  you,  to  your  power,  cause 
law,  justice,  and  discretion,  to  mercy  and  truth,  to 
be  executed  to  your  judgment  ? — Will  you  grant 
to  hold  and  keep  the  laws  and  rightful  customs 
which  the  commonalty  of  this  your  kingdom  have, 
and  will  you  defend  and  uphold  them  to  the  honour 
of  God,  so  much  as  in  you  lieth '  ?" 

Such  is  the  oath  sworn  by  Charles  I.  to  every 
clause  of  which  he  expressed  his  solemn  affirmative. 
Now,  the  oath  of  Edward  II.  the  most  ancient,  as 
I  have  stated,  on  record,  is  exactly  the  same,  with 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  200,  201.  Heylin, 
p.  146,  147. 


296  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

this  difference  only,  that  the  first  article  ends  at 
the  words  "  St.  Edward  your  predecessor,"  where- 
as in  the  oath  of  Charles,  those  clauses  were  added 
beginning  with  "  according  to  the  laws  of  God," 
to  "  the  ancient  customs  of  this  realm  V  After 
the  end  of  the  fourth  article  of  Charles'  oath,  one 
of  the  Bishops  read  this  passage  to  the  King : 
"  Our  Lord  and  King,  we  beseech  you  to  pardon 
and  to  grant,  and  to  preserve  unto  us,  and  to  the 
churches  committed  to  your  charge,  all  canonical 
privileges,  and  do  law  and  justice,  and  that  you 
would  protect  and  defend  us,  as  every  good  King  in 
his  kingdoms  ought  to  be  the  protector  and  defender 
of  the  Bishops  and  churches  under  their  govern- 
ment." The  King  then  declared  and  promised 
that  he  would  do  so  "  with  a  willing  and  devout 
heart,"  after  which,  being  led  to  the  communion 
table,  he  took  the  oath  in  presence  of  the  people, 
by  laying  his  hand  upon  the  Bible,  and  saying, 
"  The  things  which  I  have  here  promised,  I  shall 
perform  and  keep,  So  help  me  God,  and  the  con- 
tents of  this  book."  After  which,  when  conducted 
back  to  the  throne,  the  following  passage  was  read 
to  him,  "  Stand  and  hold  fast  from  henceforth  the 
place  to  which  you  have  been  heir  by  the  succession 
of  your  forefathers,  being  now  delivered  to  you  by 
the  authority  of  Almighty  God,  and  by  the  hands 
of  us,  and  all  the  Bishops  and  servants  of  God. 


1  Rymer's  Acta  Regia,  vol.  iii.  p.  63.     Rapin,  edit. 
folio,  vol.  i.  p.  389. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  297 

And  as  you  see  the  clergy  to  come  nearer  to  the 
altar  than  others,  so  remember  that  (in  all  places 
convenient)  you  give  them  greater  honour,  that 
the  Mediator  of  God  and  man  may  establish  you  in 
the  kingly  throne,  to  be  a  mediator  betwixt  the 
clergy  and  the  laity,  and  that  you  may  reign  for 
ever  with  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  kings,  and 
Lord  of  lords1." 

But  when  we  reflect  that  this  calumny  against 
Charles  and  Laud  was  circulated  seventeen  years 
after  the  coronation,  by  those  enthusiasts  to  whom 
the  King  pleaded  his  coronation  oath  for  not  yield- 
ing to  their  extravagances,  we  at  once  perceive  the 
real  source,  and  the  occasion  of  the  charge.  In 
Charles'  Answer,  cited  in  the  note2,  he  thus  expresses 
himself:  "  We  say,  with  a  clear  and  upright  con- 
science to  Almighty  God,  whosoever  harbours  the 
least  thought  in  his  heart  of  ruining  or  violating  the 
public  liberty  or  religion  of  this  kingdom,  or  the 
just  freedom  and  privilege  of  Parliament,  let  him 
be  accursed;  and  he  shall  be  no  counsellor  of  ours 
who  will  not  say,  Amen."  But  those  zealots,  find- 
ing that  they  could  not  justify  themselves,  unless 
they  could  establish  a  case,  scrupled  not  to  declare, 
in  the  face  of  truth  and  honesty,  that  the  coronation 

1  Rushworth,  ut  sup.     "  His  Majestie's  Answer  to  a  printed 
book,  entituled  a  Remonstrance,  or,  the  Declaration  of  the  Lords 
and  Commons  now  assembled  in  Parliament,  May  26,  1642. 
London,  printed  by  Robert  Barker,  printer  to  the  King's  most 
excellent  Majestic,  1642,  p.  16,  17. 

2  Ibid.  p.  5. 


298  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

oath  had  been  violated,  and  that  it  had  been  inten- 
tionally done  by  the  King,  to  justify  what  they 
called  his  arbitrary  power.  It  may  be  here  neces- 
sary to  remark,  that  in  the  Parliament  of  1642, 
when  this  charge  was  first  made,  the  factious  mem- 
bers of  it  were  .endeavouring  to  compel  the  King  to 
give  his  assent  to  whatever  bills  they  thought  pro- 
per ;  and  because  they  met  with  a  refusal,  they 
asserted  that  he  was  bound  by  the  coronation  oath 
to  act  as  they  requested.  Such  was  the  conduct  of 
men,  who,  we  are  told  repeatedly,  were  the  defend- 
ers of  the  constitution.  But  is  it  not  most  evident, 
that  the  absurd  argument um  of  those  fanatical  po- 
liticians was  just  the  very  reverse,  and  that  the  King 
was  labouring  to  uphold  that  constitution  which 
they  were  assiduously  endeavouring  to  overthrow  ? 
For  if  Charles,  or  any  English  monarch,  had  so 
acted,  where  would  have  been  his  share  in  the  legis- 
lature ?  He  became  at  once  a  tool  in  the  hands  of 
Parliament ;  his  authority  was  less  than  nominal ; 
and,  in  effect,  the  monarchy  was  sapped  at  its  very 
foundations.  Those  sages,  moreover,  champions 
of  liberty  as  the  modern  liberals  pretend  they  were, 
arrogated  to  themselves,  and  exercised  a  power, 
which  they  denied  to  the  King,  who,  in  his  own 
person,  was  the  third  of  the  legislating  estates  of 
the  kingdom.  Their  conduct  would  not  be  tole- 
rated at  the  present  moment ;  for  it  is  an  essential 
part  of  the  British  constitution,  that  the  King  can 

*£&**>    r  .  1-1,  ~i 

refuse  to  sign  any  bill  which  may  be  presented  to 

,.  .        , .  .     :      , 

him,   putting   his  negative  upon  it,  in  the   same 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  299 

manner  as  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament ;  and  if 
the  King  has  not  this  power,  which  he  can  exercise 
when  he  pleases,  then  he  is  divested  of  his  share  in 
the  government,  and  his  authority  is  merely  nomi- 
nal ;  he  becomes  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  Parliament, 
and  the  independence  of  the  monarchy  is  annihi- 
lated. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  too,  that  the  alteration,  if 
it  may  be  called  so,  was  not  made  in  the  reign  of 
Charles,  but  in  that  of  James,  and  could  not  be 
charged  on  Bishop  Laud  *.  And  it  is,  therefore,  evi- 
dent, from  the  preceding  references,  that  there  was 
no  alteration  of  the  oath,  and  that  it  was  only  al- 
leged by  a  faction,  who  were  eventually  too  suc- 
cessful in  their  machinations;  but  who,  at  that  pe- 
riod, could  not  prevail  on  the  King  to  act  as  uncon- 
stitutionally as  themselves. 

Let  us  now  notice  the  second  particular,  namely, 
what  is  alleged  against  Laud  on  this  subject,  and 
by  whom.  At  a  subsequent  period  of  the  Bishop's 
life,  his  enemies — those  who  constituted  themselves 
his  judges — asserted  that  he  had  altered  the  oath. 
The  individuals  who  made  this  charge  were  his  old 
antagonists  the  Puritans,  and  hence  their  assertion 
must  be  received  with  caution,  for,  as  has  been  al- 
ready said,  Abbot,  who  had  on  former  occasions 
shewn  himself  sufficiently  officious  in  minor  con- 

1  Husband's  Collections,  4to.  London  edit.  vol.  i.  p.  263. 
706.  Rapin's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  folio  edit.  Heylin's 
Life  of  Laud,  p.  14-6,  147.  Laud's  Troubles  and  Trials,  p.  318, 
319,  320.  354,  &c, 

7 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

cerns,  would  not  be  inclined  to  allow  what  most 
materially  affected  the  constitution  to  pass  unno- 
ticed 1.  Laud  is  charged  by  one,  with  having  "altered 
the  old  coronation  oath,,  and  framed  another  new 
one 2  ;"  by  a  second,  with  having  "  purposely  emas- 
culated it 3 ;"  by  a  third,  the  fanatical  Prynne,  who 
was,  let  it  be  noted,  his  most  inveterate  enemy, 
with  having  inserted  the  phrase,  "  agreeable  to  the 
King's  prerogative,"  and  caused  the  other  phrase 
to  be  omitted,  "  which  the  people  have  chosen,  or 
shall  choose  V  And,  many  years  after  his  death, 
another  individual  alleged  that  the  Bishop  had  de- 
lated from  the  ancient  coronation  oath  the  phrases, 
"  that  the  King  should  consent  to  such  laws  as  the 
people  should  choose?  and  had  inserted  instead 
thereof,  te  saving  the  King's  prerogative  royal5." 
This  individual  takes  Prynne  as  his  authority.  Such 
are  the  jarring  assertions  of  Laud's  enemies. 

Now,  it  may  be  here  remarked,  that  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  words  which  Laud  is  accused  of 
having  struck  out  were  at  any  time  a  part  of  the 

1  In  the  Narrative,  drawn  up  by  Abbot  himself,  in  which  he 
bitterly  declaims  against  Laud,  there  is  not  a  single  insinuation 
respecting  the  coronation  oath.     If  it  had  been  altered  by  Laud, 
Abbot  would  gladly  have  availed  himself  of  the  fact.     Rush- 
worth,  Abbot's  Narrative,  vol.  i. 

2  William  Lilly's  True  History  of  Charles  I.  12mo.  London, 
1715,  p.  21. 

3  Life  of  King  Charles,  by  an  anonymous  writer,  p.  30. 

4  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  318,  319.     Wharton's  Diary. 

5  Lord  Chief  Baron  Atkins'  Speech  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  October,  1693. 


1636.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  301 

ancient  oath  ;  but  it  is  indisputable,  that  the  origi- 
nal could  not  possibly  infer  the  same  meaning  which 
was  extracted  from  them  by  the  Puritan  politicians. 
For  if  the  King  was  "  to  consent  to  such  laws  as 
the  people  should  choose"  how  could  he  be  said  to 
govern  the  kingdom,  seeing  that  he  was  virtually 
under  the  control  of  men  who  could  compel  him  to 
do  what  they  pleased  ?  Who  were  the  people  ?  Un- 
questionably those  who  sat  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons were  not  elected  by  public  opinion,  but  by 
popular  clamour ;  and  as  the  majority  of  them  were 
religious  enthusiasts,  it  was  impossible  that  they 
could  legislate  with  justice  and  moderation.  This 
fact,  therefore,  must  be  kept  in  view ;  for  it  is  one 
thing  to  act  according  to  the  constitution,  and  ano- 
ther thing  to  be  misled  by  outrageous  enthusiasm. 
The  Puritans  had  taken  especial  care  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  people,  whom  they  contrived  to  render 
subservient  to  their  designs,  by  filling  them  with 
visionary  fears  about  Popery,  and  by  studiously  mis- 
representing the  actions  of  the  Court.  But  grant- 
ing that  the  oath  was  altered  as  alleged,  though  the 
coronation  oath  can  only  be  altered  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, still  the  alteration  was  not  unconstitutional, 
because  it  is  the  grand  prerogative  of  the  British 
monarch  to  refuse  assent  to  any  laws  passed  by  the 
people,  represented  by  the  Commons;  and  much 
more  can  he  refuse  assent  to  any  laws,  which  the 
people,  from  their  mere  caprice,  may  desire.  There 
could  be  no  greater  absurdity  than  to  assert  that 
the  King  must  yield  to  every  demand  ;  that  he  must 


302  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626, 

consent  to  every  proposed  law,  whether  wise  or  not ; 
that  he  must  become  completely  under  the  control 
of  circumstances.  Should  the  people  be  mode- 
rate and  enlightened,  so  far  well ;  but  if  they  should 
be  fanatical  and  seditious,  must  he  still  submit  ? 
There  is  something  worse  than  ridiculous  even  in 
the  very  idea,  that  the  King  must  consent  to  what- 
ever laws  the  people  shall  choose ;  and  were  it 
practised,  there  would  be  no  longer  a  well-regulated 
state,  but  one  of  confusion  and  rebellion.  It  con- 
duces to  the  very  safety  and  dignity  of  a  free  na- 
tion, that  the  King  should  be  independent  in  his 
own  person,  otherwise  he  cannot  administer  the 
laws,  act  as  the  protector  of  his  subjects,  and 
as  the  head  of  the  state.  But  to  say  that  a  Prince 
is  to  be  subject  to  the  people,  to  consent  to  what- 
ever they  please,  however  absurd  and  extravagant, 
and  to  be  denied  the  exercise  of  the  royal  prero- 
gative, is  to  exalt  to  power  the  worst  of  all  factions, 
and  to  place  the  public  administration  in  the  hands 
of  the  populace,  which  is  the  very  worst  species  of 
tyranny.  The  absurdity  of  those  zealots  is  appa- 
rent ;  and  the  reader  has  only  to  recollect  the  con- 
duct of  those  pretended  champions  of  liberty,  when, 
by  their  successful  hypocrisy  and  rebellion,  they  had 
succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  constitution  both  in 
Church  and  State.  The  spirit  of  Puritanism  is 
always  the  same ;  it  is  actuated  by  mean  and  selfish 
jealousies ;  it  wishes  to  prevail,  and  spurns  the  re- 
straints of  law  and  justice.  In  its  conventicle  sys- 
tem, it  openly  vindicates  sedition.  The  spirit  which 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  303 

operated  at  this  time  was  the  very  same  as  that 
which,  when  first  imported  from  Geneva,  stimulated 
John  Knox  and  his  adherents  to  subscribe  a  solemn 
covenant,  shortly  after  the  Scottish  Parliament  of 
1560,  that  they  would  take  up  arms  against  the 
government,  and  make  common  cause,  if  even  one 
of  their  brethren  chose  to  think  himself  aggrieved l. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  Laud's  Puritan  enemies 
wilfully  misrepresented  him,  and  determined  to 
make  this  charge  against  him,  in  addition  to  their 
other  falsehoods,  to  vindicate  their  own  treason 
and  dark  practices2.  Laud  himself  completely 

1  Knox's  History.     Spottiswoode's  History. 

2  Husband's  (Edward)  Collections,  4to.  p.  706.  In  one  of  tjie 
Remonstrances  which  passed  between  the  King  and  the  Parlia- 
ment concerning  the  coronation  oath,  there  is  this  passage. — 
"  That  the  oath  hath  been  ordinarily  so  taken  appears  by  a 
memorandum  upon  record  at  the  coronation  of  Richard  II. 
wherein   the  heads  of  the  oath  being  set  down,  that  clause 
of  the  oath   concerning  the  King's   strengthening   such   laws 
as  the  people  have  chosen  or  shall  choose,  (the  matter  is  not 
great  whether  way  it  be  rendered,  so  it  bee  understood  al- 
wayes  that  the  lawes  refer  in  that  clause  to  the  royall  assent, 
as  a  thing  future,  and  not  past,  as  they  doe,)  is  rendered 
thus  :  '  Ac  de  faciendo  per  ipsum  Dominum  Regem  eos  csse 
protegendos,   et  ad  honorem  Dei,  corroborandum  quos  vulgus 
juste  et  rationabiliter  eligerit,'    which   expression,  with   that 

qualification,  which  the  people  should  justly  and  reasonably 
choose,  clearly  relates  to  new  lams  that  should  be  chosen  by  the 
people ;  and  in  all  the  alterations  in  the  forme  of  the  oath  that 
we  can  find,  excepting  that  it  was  taken  by  his  Majesty,  and 
his  father,  King  James,  (wherein  the  word  choose  is  wholly  left 
out,  as  well  hath  chosen,  as  will  choose)  that  clause  is  under- 
stood of  new  laws  to  be  made,  as  in  that  oath  which  Henry  VIII. 


304  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

refutes  the  charge,  and  it  is  fair  that  his  remarks 
should  be  here  inserted.  When  he  was  charged  with 
the  two  alterations  in  the  coronation  oath,  "  one 
added,"  says  he,  "  namely,  these  words,  '  agreeable 
to  the  King's  prerogative/  The  other  omitted 
these  words,  QUCB  populus  elegerit,  which  the 
people  have  chosen  or  shall  choose.  For  this 
latter,  the  clause  omitted,  that  suddenly  vanished, 
for  it  was  omitted  in  the  oath  of  King  James,  as 
is  confessed  by  themselves  in  the  printed  votes  of 
this  present  Parliament,  (p.  706).  But  the  other 
insisted  on,  as  taking  off  the  total  assurance 

corrected  and  interlined  with  his  own  hand,  (whereof  there  is  a 
copy  among  the  Memorials  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at 
Lambeth,)  the  clause  in  question,  that  is,  *  and  affirm  them 
which  the  folk  and  people  hath  made  and  chosen,'  is  interlined 
by  him  thus,  instead  of  folk,  he  puts  nobles  and  people,  and 
after  the  words  made  and  chosen,  he  added  with  my  consent. 
And  in  the  oath  of  Edward  VI.,  which  is  to  be  seen  at  Lambeth 
also,  the  Lords  Prptectors  and  the  other  co-executors  holding 
it  necessary  to  correct  the  ceremonies  and  observances  used  at 
the  coronation  of  the  King  of  this  realme,  in  respect  of  the 
tedious  length  of  the  same,  and  also  because  they  conceived, 
that  many  points  of  the  same  were  such  as,  by  the  laws  of  this 
realm  at  that  present,  were  not  allowable  (as  is  there  expressed), 
they  altered  several  clauses  in  the  oath,  and  the  clause  in  ques- 
tion they  changed  into  this  following,  *  Do  you  grant  to  make 
no  new  laws,  but  such  as  shall  be  to  the  honour  and  glory  of 
God,  and  to  the  good  of  the  commonwealth,  and  that  the  same 
shall  be  made  by  the  consent  of  your  people,  as  hath  been  accus- 
tomed ?'  By  all  which  it  clearly  appears,  that  in  that  clause  of 
the  oath,  Et  ad  honorem  Dei  corroborandum  quos  vulgus  eligerit, 
his  Majesty's  royal  assent  to  new  laws  was  generally  understood 
to  be  meant."  Husband,, ut  supr. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  305 

which  the  subjects  have  by  the  oath  of  their  prince, 
for  the  performance  of  his  laws.  First,  I  hum- 
bly conceive,  that  this  clause  takes  off  none  of  the 
people's  assurance ;  none  at  all.  For  the  King's 
just  and  regal  prerogative,  and  the  subjects'  assur- 
ance for  liberty  and  property,  may  stand  well  toge- 
ther, and  have  stood  so  for  hundreds  of  years. 
Secondly,  that  alteration,  whatever  it  may  be,  was 
not  made  by  me,  nor  is  there  any  interlining  or 
alteration  so  much  as  of  a  letter  found  in  that  book. 
Thirdly,  if  any  thing  be  amiss  therein,  my  prede- 
cessor gave  that  oath  to  the  King,  and  not  I.  I 
was  merely  ministerial,  both  in  the  preparation  and 
at  the  coronation  itself,  supplying  the  place  of  the 
Dean  of  Westminster  V  s  £  i 

1  Troubles  and  Trials,  &c.  p.  318,  319,  320,  324,  354,  355. 
The  proceedings  of  the  Puritan  politicians  are  remarkable  in 
this  affair.  Their  allegations  against  the  Bishop  are  the  merest 
quibbles,  and  though  they  had  the  most  certain  evidence  that 
the  charge  was  false,  they  betook  themselves  to  miserable  sub- 
terfuges in  straining  the  meaning  of  words.  For  example,  they 
rested  an  argument  on  finding  the  word  perform,  instead  of  con- 
firm ;  and  in  another  part,  where  the  King  answered  /  will,  in- 
stead of  /  do.  Laud's  remarks  on  the  arguments  of  his  enemies 
are  admirable,  and  evince  the  generous  indignation  which  he 
must  have  felt  when  the  Puritans,  by  their  sophistry,  endea- 
voured to  represent  him  as  being  the  enemy  of  his  country.  It 
is  no  less  surprising,  too,  that  they  themselves  admitted  that  the 
oath  had  not  been  altered  from  the  same  taken  by  James,  and  it 
was  evident  that,  if  there  had  been  any  alteration,  Abbot,  the 
Primate,  was  the  guilty  person,  inasmuch  as  he  proposed  the 
oath  to  the  King,  in  virtue  of  his  office.  The  accusation, 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

Four  days  after  Charles'  coronation  the  second 
Parliament  assembled ;  and  on  Monday,  the  6th  of 
February,  Laud  preached  the  opening  ^sermon  be- 
fore the  King  and  the  House  of  Lords  19  from  the 
3d,  4th,  and  5th  verses  of  the  112th  Psalm.  In  his 
discourse  he  took  a  masterly  view  of  the  Jewish  hie- 
rarchy, considering  it,  in  its  political  order,  concord, 
and  unity,  as  the  great  type  of  the  Christian  Church> 
with  this  difference,  that  the  Church  of  the  Jews 
was  political  and  ecclesiastical,  whereas  the  Chris- 
tian Church  is  solely  a  spiritual  kingdom.  He 
then  strikingly  pcoirtrayed  the  danger  of  faction 
to  the  well-being  of  the  state,  whether  political  or 
ecclesiastical.  Unity,  he  declared,  was  the  strength 
of  both.  "  Would  you  keep  the  state  in  unity  ?" 
he  asks,  "  in  any  case  take  heed  of  breaking  the 
peace  of  the  Church.  The  peace  of  the  state  depends 
much  upon  it :  for,  divide  Christ  in  the  minds  of 
men,  or  divide  the  minds  of  men  about  their  hopes 
of  salvation  in  Christ,  and  then  tell  me  where  will 
be  the  unity 2  ?"  The'  wisdom  of  these  sentiments  is 
indisputable,  and  they  are  worthy  of  the  great  man 
by  whom  they  were  inculcated. 

indeed,  is  most  invidious,  and  proves  the  dispositions  of  those 
men  of  whom  we  are  told  so  much  about  their  defence  of  the 
constitution,  their  struggle  for  liberty,  &c. 

1  It  is  the  third  of  his  printed  Sermons.     Diary,  p.  28. 

2  Sermons,  4to.  p.  107.   "Feb.  26.  First  Sunday  in  Lent.  I 
presented  to  his  Majesty  my  sermon  which  I  had  preached   at 
the  opening  of  the   Parliament  before,   now  printed  by   his 
Majesty's  command."  .  Diary,  p.  29. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  307 

But  the  Commons  in  this  Parliament  were  as 
little  disposed  as  in  the  former  to  profit  by  advice, 
and  they  had  no  sooner  proceeded  to  business,  than 
Montague  was  again  called  to  account  by  them  for 
what  they  called  Arminianism.  But,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  conference  held  at  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham's house,  by  the  desire  of  the  Earl  of  Wor- 
cester, between  Dr.  Buckeridge,  Bishop  of  Roches- 
ter, and  Dr.  White,  Dean  of  Carlisle,  on  the  one 
side,  and  Dr.  Morton,  Bishop  of  Litchfield,  and 
Dr.  Preston,  on  the  other ;  and  another  conference 
held  a  few  days  after,  in  which  Montague  ably 
defended  himself,  he  was  permitted  to  pass  unmo- 
lested !.  He  might  probably,  however,  have  expe- 
rienced a  different  fate  "  if  the  Commons,"  as  Dr 
Heylin  observes,  "  had  not  been  diverted  by  a  pur- 
suit after  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  who,  being 
more  noble  game,  they  laid  Montague's  case  aside, 
having  done  nothing  in  it  but  raised  a  great  desire 
in  several  members  of  both  Houses  to  give  them- 
selves some  satisfaction  in  these  doubtful  points." 
The  usual  contentions  arose  between  the  King  and 

1  Committees  on  religion  were  now  invariably  appointed  by 
the  Parliament,  and  were  held  to  be  as  indispensable  as  the  bag- 
gage to  an  army.  I  imagine  it  will  be  a  difficult  matter  to  de- 
fend the  conduct  of  those  sages  in  this  respect.  It  is  a  singular 
thing,  too,  that  those  committees  thought  themselves  sufficiently 
qualified  to  decide  on  the  most  abstruse  points  of  theology, 
though  they  were  composed  of  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  knew 
little  save  their  mother  tongue.  This,  however,  is  quite  in 
accordance  with  the  Genevan  polity,  and  no  doubt  was  suffi- 
ciently gratifying  to  their  enthusiasm. 

x2 


308  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [16261 

the  Commons  on  the  subject  of  the  supplies,  and 
Buckingham's  conduct  was  taken  into  their  consi- 
deration. The  King  was  at  this  time  engaged  in 
a  war  with  Spain,  and  as  he  saw  no  symptoms  of 
their  co-operation,  he  wished  to  know  what  sup- 
plies they  intended  to  grant  him.  He  pressed  upon 
them  the  fact,  that  unless  those  supplies  were 
granted,  his  army  would  mutiny,  and  he  himself  be 
compelled  to  adopt  measures  unworthy  of  his 
crown1.  But  the  Puritan  faction  were  not  to  be 
convinced,  or  at  least  they  had  determined  not  to 
be  so  ;  for,  having  their  own  purposes  in  view,  in- 
stead of  uniting  with  the  King  in  legislating  for  the 
welfare  and  honour  of  the  kingdom,  they  re- 
sumed the  conduct  which  they  not  unlikely  had 
intended  to  adopt  in  the  preceding  Parliament, 
and  accused  Buckingham  of  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors. 

This  affair  chiefly  originated  in  the  Duke's  ge- 
neral policy,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
was  some  cause  for  the  popular  discontentment. 
Yet  every  one  will  allow,  that  this  Parliament  might 

1  On  this  occasion  Clement  Coke,  a  younger  son  to  the  famous 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  is  said  to  have  remarked  in  the  Parliament, 
"  that  it  was  better  to  die  by  a  foreign  enemy  than  to  be  de- 
stroyed at  home  ;"  and  Heylin  assures  us,  that  for  his  conduct 
in  this  Parliament,  young  Coke  was  "  severely  reprimanded  by 
his  father,  who  could  not  be  persuaded  to  look  upon  him  for  a 
long  time  after."  The  King's  reply  to  this  observation  of  Coke 
is  worthy  of  notice.  "  I  think  it  more  honourable,"  said  Charles, 
4*  for  a  king  to  be  invaded,  and  almost  despised  by  a  common 
enemy,  than  to  be  despised  at  home." 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  309 

have  been   much  better   employed  than  in   first 
appointing  a  committee  about  religion,  and  that 
committee  appointing  a  sub-committee,  thus  taking 
the  executive  government  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
King,  and  assuming  the  entire  power  themselves. 
The  Duke's  case  was  only  a  very  small  part  of  the 
business  of  Parliament,  and  yet  we  find  every  thing 
suspended  on  that  account.     Now,  granting  for  a 
moment,  which  is  not  the  fact,  that,  according  to 
the  shewing  of  one  of  the  members,  the  King  had 
lost  the  regality  of  the  narrow  seas  since  the  Duke 
became  Admiral — that  he  did  not  diligently  per- 
form the  duties  of  his  office — that  he  had  abused 
the  King's  liberality,  and  squandered  the  revenues 
— that  he  had  engrossed  all  the  public  offices,  and 
preferred  his  own  relations — that  he  had  sold  places 
of  importance,  and  that  his  mother  and  father-in- 
law  patronised  Papists,  still  there  was   no  cause 
why  the  business  of  Parliament  should  be  stopped, 
the  government,  as  it  were,  suspended,  as  if  they 
were  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  annoy  the  King.    It 
is  evident,  that  had  they  not  alighted  on  the  Duke, 
they  would  have  found  sufficient  excuses  in  Mon- 
tague's business,  and  in  assuming  the  office  of  theo- 
logical dictators,  in  which  they  were  as  intolerant 
as  any  Popish  Councils.     On  the  whole,  it  appears, 
that  this  Parliament  had  resolved  to  adopt  the  same 
policy  as  the  former  one,  which  is  justly  chargeable, 
by  its  dark  practices,  as  the  origin  of  all  the  dis- 
asters of  Charles'  reign. 

It  is  evident  that  the  Duke  was  in  this  instance 


310  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

treated  unjustly,  and  that  the  faction  who  opposed 
him  were  not  actuated  by  patriotic  motives l.  For, 
whatever  truth  there  might  have  been  in  the  arti- 
cles exhibited  against  him,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
he  was  marked  out  as  a  victim  to  popular  clamour. 
The  Earl  of  Bristol's  charges  against  him  resulted 
from  private  hatred,  and  though  the  Commons  had 
resolved  to  impeach  him  themselves,  from  a  doubt 
of  the  validity  of  Bristol's  assertion,  still  they  cor- 
dially united  in  endeavouring  to  effect  the  Duke's 
ruin.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  King,  in  his  message 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  assured  those  factious  mem- 
bers of  the  Commons,  that  the  Duke  had  acted  in 
no  capacity  without  his  knowledge;  that  he  had 
discharged  his  duty  with  zeal ;  and,  therefore,  that 
they  should  desist  from  their  unconstitutional  pro- 
ceedings. The  House  of  Commons  saw,  that  if 

1  In  confirmation  of  this,  I  add  the  testimony  of  Lord  Claren- 
don. The  noble  author,  in  his  History  of  the  Rebellion,  informs 
us,  that  "  they  who  flattered  him  (the  Duke)  most  before,  men- 
tioned him  now  with  the  greatest  acrimony  and  bitterness  :  and 
the  same  men  who  had  called  him  our  saviour,  for  bringing  the 
Prince  safe  out  of  Spain,  called  him  now  the  corrupter  of  the 
King,  and  the  betrayer  of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  without  the 
least  crime  imputed  to  him,  to  have  been  committed  since  the  time 
of  that  exalted  adulation,  or  that  it  was  not  then  as  much  known 
to  them  as  it  could  be  now,  so  fluctuating  and  unsteady  a  testi- 
mony is  the  applause  of  popular  councils."  I  confess,  however, 
that  though  the  Duke  was  harshly  treated,  and  though  he  had 
good  reason  to  be  disgusted  with  this  Parliament,  yet  his  subse- 
quent conduct  was  impolitic  and  imprudent.  Clarendon's  Hist. 
of  the  Rebellion,  folio  edit. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  .  311 

they  did  not  act  with  boldness,  while  the  King's 
necessities  were  urgent,  there  would  be  little  or  no 
prospect  of  success  to  their  schemes.  The  King, 
however,  was  aware  of  them,  and  was  resolved  not  to 
abandon  a  nobleman  whose  chief  crime  was,  that  he 
did  not  encourage  the  Calvinistic  faction1.  "  I 
must  put  you  in  remembrance,"  said  Charles  to  the 
Parliament,  "  of  times  that  are  past.  You  may 
remember  that  my  father,  moved  by  your  counsel, 
and  gained  by  your  persuasions,  broke  the  treaties. 
In  these  persuasions  I  was  your  instrument  towards 
him,  and  I  rejoiced  to  be  instrumental  in  any  thing 
conducive  to  the  welfare  of  this  realm.  Nor  was 
there  any  one  in  greater  favour  with  you  than  this 
man,  whom  you  so  traduce.  And  now,  when  you 
find  me  involved  in  war,  and  having  no  honourable 

1  The  disputes  between  Buckingham  and  his  enemies,  more 
especially  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  threatened  the  most  serious  conse- 
quences. "  It  was  very  sharp,"  says  Laud,  (Diary,  p.  32,  April 
19,)  "and  such  as  threatens  ruin  to  one  of  the  parties."  The 
following  annotation  deserves  to  be  inserted,  as  equally  proving 
Charles'  regard  for  religion,  and  his  'love  of  justice,  which  has 
endeared  his  memory  to  the  Church  of  England.  "  April  22, 
Sunday.  The  King  sent  for  all  the  bishops  to  come  to  him  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We  waited  upon  him,  fourteen  in 
number.  Then  his  Majesty  chid  us,  that  at  this  time  of  Parlia- 
ment we  were  silent  on  the  cause  of  the  Church,  and  did  not 
make  known  to  him  what  might  be  useful  or  was  prejudicial  to 
the  Church,  professing  himself  ready  to  promote  the  cause  of  the 
Church,  He  then  commanded  us,  that  in  the  causes  of  the  Earl 
of  Bristol  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  me  should  follow  the 
direction  of  our  own  consciences,  being  led  by  proofs,  not  by 
reports" 


312  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626., 

and  safe  retreat,  you  make  my  necessity  your  pri- 
vilege, and  set  what  rate  you  please  upon  your 
supplies." 

Sir  Dudley  Digges,  and  Sir  John  Elliot,  two 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who  were 
chosen  to  carry  up  the  articles  of  impeachment  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  were  committed  to  the  Tower, 
on  account  of  some  expressions  which  they  used 
on  that  occasion l ;  and,  in  answer  to  the  Earl  of 
Bristol's  charge,  that  the  Duke  had  endeavoured  to 
convert  the  King  to  the  Popish  Church  while  he 
was  in  Spain,  Charles,  in  his  message  to  the  Lords, 
positively  asserted  that  it  was  a  falsehood,  and  that 
the  Duke,  to  his  own  certain  knowledge,  had  made 
no  such  attempt.  Buckingham,  in  his  answer  to 
the  several  articles  of  the  impeachment,  defended 
himself  with  great  modesty  and  ability ;  but  the 
Commons  had  resolved  on  his  ruin,  and  the  King, 
finding  them  determined  to  oppose  him  in  every 
measure,  was  at  length  compelled  to  dissolve  the 
Parliament  on  the  15th  of  June,  1626 2. 

1  They  were  both  released,  however,  soorr  afterwards,  'on 
explaining  themselves. 

2  I  quote  the  following  from  Heylin,  who  has  inserted  it  from 
the  Cabala,  as  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  to  the  King  by  a 
person  unknown.     "  These  men,"  says  the  writer,  "  either  can- 
not or  will  not  remember,  that  no  nobleman  in  favour  with  his 
sovereign  was  ever  questioned  in  Parliament,  except  by  the  King 
himself,  in  case  of  treason,  or  unless  it  were  in  the  non-age  and 
tumultuary  times  of  Richard  II.  Henry  VI.  or  Edward  VI.  which 
happened  to  the  destruction  both  of  king  and  kingdom.     And 
not  to  exceed  our  own  and  our  father's  memory,  in  Henry  VIII.'s 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  313 

Such  was  the  conclusion  of  Charles'  second  Par- 
liament, and  it  is  impossible  to  reflect  on  the  con- 
duct of  its  members  without  indignation.  We  per- 
ceive them,  instead  of  taking  "  counsel  together," 
that  they  might  preserve  the  kingdom  in  unity,  and 
thereby  increase  its  strength,  busily  engaged  in  fos- 
tering the  spirit  of  faction,  thwarting  the  measures 
of  their  Sovereign,  employing  themselves  in  ap- 
pointing committees  of  religion,  and  absolutely 
restraining  the  exercise  of  government,  to  gratify 
their  own  personal  prejudices.  There  can,  I  am 
persuaded,  be  only  one  opinion  on  this  subject,  and 
that  is,  that  these  men  were  strengthening  them- 
selves more  and  more  to  ensure  the  success  of  their 
faction,  and  to  accomplish  their  grand  design  of 
overturning  the  throne,  and  making  the  Monarch  a 
mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  outrageous  fanatics. 

It  is  now  time  to  notice  the  part  which  Laud  is 

time,  Wolsey's  exorbitant  power  and  pride,  and  Cromwell!s 
contempt  of  the  nobility  and  laws,  were  not  permitted  to  be 
discussed  in  Parliament,  though  they  were  most  odious  and 
grievous  to  the  kingdom.  And  that  Leicester's  undeserved  fa- 
vour and  faults,  Hatton's  insufficiency,  and  Raleigh's  insolence, 
far  exceeded  what  hath  yet  been  objected  against  the  Duke,  yet 
no  lawyer  durst  abet,  nor  any  man  else  begin  invectives  against 
them  in  Parliament."  The  writer  then  advises  the  King  to  sup- 
port the  Duke,  "  for  if  they  prevail  with  this,  they  have  hatched 
a  thousand  other  demands,  to  pull  the  feathers  off  royalty  ;  they 
will  appoint  him  counsellors,  servants,  alliances,  limits  of  his  ex- 
pences,  accounts  of  his  revenue,  chiefly,  if  they  can  (as  they 
mainly  desire),  they  will  now  dazzle  him  in  the  beginning  of  his 
reign."  Heylin,  p.  144,  145. 


314  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

alleged  to  have  taken  in  those  proceedings,  as  his 
enemies  invariably  thrust  his  name  forward  on  every 
subject  which  they  chose  to  oppose,  and  gave  him 
the  credit  of  their  bad  success.  While  this  admis- 
sion of  theirs  is  an  unconscious  testimony  to  Laud's 
talents,  it  must  not  be  passed  over  without  animad- 
version, as  we  shall  soon  find  them  practising  against 
him  as  industriously  as  they  were  against  his  patron, 
Buckingham.  It  was  reported,  that  Laud  was  most 
active  in  managing  the  Duke's  cause  against  the 
Puritan  faction ;  and  Prynne  asserts,  that  the  King's 
speech  to  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  was  written 
by  Laud  :  "  This  speech  of  his,"  (the  King's),  says 
Prynne,  "  was  penned  for  him  by  this  pragmatical 
bishop,  the  original  copy  whereof  was  given  in  evi- 
dence against  him,  under  his  own  hand1."  And 
again,  concerning  Buckingham's  reply  to  the  im- 
peachment :  "  The,  Bishop,  though  then  a  member 
of  the  Upper  House,  and  a  judge  of  this  cause,  was 
yet  such  a  sworn  vassal  to  the  Duke,  that  he  penned 
his  speech  which  he  made  to  the  Lords  in  the  Upper 
House,  against  the  Commons'  impeachment,  and 
corrected  and  amended  his  answer  to  his  impeach- 
ment, as  his  tried  advocate  in  sundry  particulars 
given  against  him  in  evidence  under  his  own  hand  : 
and  likewise  penne'd  the  King's  speech  in  the  House 
of  Peers,  touching  the  Duke,  and  the  commitment 
of  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  as  appears  by  the  origi- 
nal draught 2."  But  these  assertions  are  entirely 

1  Breviat,  p.  7.  *  Ibid.  p.  8. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  315 

gratuitous,  and  rest  solely  on  the  circumstance,  that 
when,  at  a  future  time,  Laud's  papers  were  ran- 
sacked, in  order  that  the  malice  of  his  enemies  might 
find  some  gratification,  written  copies  of  both 
speeches,  which  Prynne  chooses  to  call  original, 
were  found.  On  the  shewing  of  this  enthusiast, 
therefore,  when  a  written  copy  of  any  document  is 
found  in  a  man's  possession,  especially  if  he  has  had 
any  concern  in  the  transactions  mentioned  therein, 
he  must  be  held  as  the  author, — an  assertion  quite 
in  unison  with  his  absurd  modes  of  reasoning.  But, 
granting  that  Laud  did  actually  write  those  speeches, 
what  charge  can  be  made  against  him  ?  He  was 
indeed  a  member  of  the  Upper  House,  but  it  did 
not  follow  that  he  was  to  coincide  with  all  the  mo- 
tions of  that  House ;  and  though  Prynne  takes  care 
to  inform  us,  that  he  was,  from  his  situation,  "  a 
judge  in  this  cause,"  thereby  casting  imputations 
upon  Laud's  integrity,  yet  he  might  have  known, 
that  it  never  was  the  intention  of  Charles'  Parlia- 
ments to  submit  their  proceedings  to  a  candid  inves- 
tigation, inasmuch  as  they  wished  to  be  judges  in  their 
own  persons.  And  even  if  Laud  had  written  those 
speeches,  his  integrity  still  remains  unimpeached; 
for  he  well  knew,  and  made  no  secret,  of  the  wicked 
designs  of  those  men.  But  if  Prynne  meant,  as  he 
undoubtedly  intended,  to  impugn  Charles'  capacity, 
and  more  deeply  involve  Laud  in  this,  among  other 
visionary  and  false  charges  brought  against  him,  he 
is  at  once  refuted  by  the  King's  well  known  literary 
acquirements,  which,  notwithstanding  the  impotent 


316  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

attempts  of  his  enemies,  are  happily  indisputable  : 
and,  in  the  second  place,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  Duke's  failings,  and  whatever  his  attainments, 
certain  it  is,  that  he  was  not  destitute  of  mental 
accomplishments.  For,  when  he  was  in  the  Nether- 
lands, shortly  after  this  period,  negotiating  a  loan 
for  the  King's  jewels,  hearing  that  some  curious 
Arabic  Manuscripts,  which  had  been  left  by  Erpe- 
nius,  the  original  collector,  to  his  widow,  and  by  her 
exposed  to  sale,  were  about  to  be  purchased  by 
some  Jesuits,  he  disappointed  the  learned  fathers, 
and  gave  for  them  500/. ;  "  a  mixed  act,"  says  Sir 
Henry  Wotton,  "  both  of  bounty  and  chanty,  and 
the  more  laudable,  being  much  out  of  his  natural 
element1."  He  spared  no  cost  in  the  purchasing 
of  curious  coins  ,  and  his  collection  of  pictures 
at  York  House  was  the  admiration  of  the  age*. 
He  regarded  them  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  an 

1  After  Buckingham's  death,  the  Manuscripts  were  presented 
to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  of  which  University  he  had  been 
Chancellor,  by  the  Duchess,  in  fulfilment  of  her  husband's  origi- 
nal intentions.     "  He  had  a  purpose  likewise,"  says  Wotton, 
"  as  I  am  well  informed,  to  place  in  the  University,  where  he  was 
Chancellor,  a  fair  case  for  them,  and  to  furnish  it  with  other 
choice    collections  from  all  parts  at   his    own    charge."      Sir 
H.  Wotton's  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  p.  18. 

2  Laud  to  Archbishop  Usher.     Parr's  Collect.  No.  CLXVI. 

3  In  the  Queen's  Staircase  at  Hampton  Court  he  is  introduced 
into  a  picture  painted  by  Tintoret,  one  of  those  who  had  expe- 
rienced the  Duke's  liberality,  in  the  character  of  Mercury,  pre- 
senting the  Arts  and  Sciences  to  the  King  and  Queen,  sitting  on 
a  cloud,  and  some  boys  are  represented  driving  away  Envy  and 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  317 

amateur l.  These  facts  do  not,  indeed,  prove  Buck- 
ingham to  have  been  a  political  orator,  still  they  are 

Malice. — Sir  Henry  Wotton  remarks,  concerning  the  Duke,  that 
he  was  in  his  natural  element  when  among  pictures  and  other 
productions  of  the  fine  arts. 

1  It  may  not  be  improper  here  to  introduce  a  brief  account  of 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  collection  of  pictures,  part  of  which 
were,  during  the  Usurpation,  sold  at  Antwerp  by  his  son,  to  re- 
lieve his  necessities.  That  we  may  form  an  idea  of  this  splendid 
collection,  the  Duke  at  one  time  gave  1 0,OOOZ.  for  the  collection 
of  the  famous  Rubens  ;  and  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  his  biographer, 
while  ambassador  at  Venice,  made  extensive  purchases  for  him 
of  many  admirable  pictures  by  the  first  masters.  In  this  collection 
there  were  no  less  than  seventeen  by  Tintoret,  twenty-one  by 
Bassan,  nineteen  by  Titian,  thirteen  by  Paul  Veronese,  thirteen 
by  Rubens,  two  by  Georgioni,  eight  by  Palma,  three  by  Guido, 
three  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  two  by  Correggio,  and  three  by  Ra- 
phael D'Urbino  ;  besides  others  by  celebrated  masters,  whose 
works  are  now  extremely  rare.  After  the  Duke's  death,  some 
were  purchased  by  the  King,  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and 
Abbot  Montague  ;  but  the  greater  part  was  purchased  by  the 
Archduke  Leopold  of  Austria,  and  added  to  the  splendid  collec- 
tion in  the  Castle  of  Prague.  The  famous  picture,  the  Ecce 
Homo  of  Titian,  was  one  of  those  which  the  Archduke  purchased, 
in  which  are  introduced  portraits  of  the  Pope,  Charles  V.  of 
Spain,  and  Solyman  the  Magnificent.  This  picture,  eight  feet 
in  length,  and  twelve  in  breadth,  was  valued  at  50001. ;  but  from 
an  authentic  note  of  the  engraver,  it  appears  that  the  Earl  of 
Arundel  offered  the  Duke  in  his  lifetime  7000/.  in  money  or 
land,  for  this  single  piece.  There  is  a  painting  of  it  in  Nor- 
thumberland House,  Strand.  See  the  Inventory  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham's  Collection,  in  1635. 

The  famous  window  of  stained  glass  in  St.  Margaret's  Church, 
Westminster,  also  belonged  to  Buckingham,  and  was  sold  by  his 
son.  Its  history  is  somewhat  remarkable.  It  was  made  by 
order  of  the  magistrates  of  Dort,  as  a  complimentary  present  for 


318  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

not  without  weight,  and  there  are  few  men,  espe- 
cially men  of  rank,  who  are  unable,  on  important 

Henry  VII.  who  was  then  building  his  Chapel,  and  was  five  years 
in  progress.  But  Henry  died  before  the  completion  of  his  Cha- 
pel, and  the  Abbot  of  Waltham  Abbey  got  possession  of  the 
window,  and  set  it  up  in  his  church.  After  the  death  of  that 
ecclesiastic,  it  was  removed  by  the  last  Abbot  of  the  Abbey,  at 
the  period  of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  to  Newhall,  in 
Wiltshire,  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  where  it  was  depo- 
sited in  a  private  chapel ;  after  which  it  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  father  of  the  famous  queen,  Anne 
Boleyn.  It  then  came  into  the  hands  of  Ratcliff,  Earl  of  Sussex, 
in  Elizabeth's  reign ;  from  whose  family  it  was  purchased  by 
Buckingham.  His  son  sold  it  to  the  celebrated  General  Monk. 
In  order  that  it  might  be  preserved  from  the  violence  of 
the  sectaries  during  the  Usurpation,  Monk  caused  it  to  be  con- 
cealed under  ground,  otherwise  it  would  have  been  certainly 
destroyed  by  the  Puritanical  fanatics  ;  for  they  were  stimulated 
by  a  worse  than  Gothic  fury  against  every  thing  which  was  not 
in  accordance  with  their  clownish  and  fanatical  taste ;  their  sacri- 
legious and  caitiff  hands  having  demolished,  it  is  said,  more  than 
eight  hundred  windows  of  stained  glass.  After  the  Restoration, 
Monk  placed  it  in  his  chapel  at  Newhall.  His  son  and  heir,  the 
second  Duke  of  Albemarle,  died  in  1686,  and  it  devolved  to  the 
Duchess  ;  but  as  she  did  not  reside  at  Newhall,  this  famous  win- 
dow was  exposed  to  injury  and  damage.  Monk's  family  having 
sold  Newhall,  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  new  purchaser, 
who  destroyed  part  of  the  ancient  mansion,  and  pulled  down  the 
chapel,  with  the  exception  of  the  window,  which  he  left  standing, 
hoping,  it  is  said,  that  it  would  be  purchased  for  some  church. 
It  lay  some  time  cased  in  boxes,  till  a  gentleman,  named  Conyers, 
purchased  it ;  and  having  employed  an  artist,  named  Price,  to 
repair  it  at  great  expense,  he  set  it  up  in  his  chapel  at  Copthall, 
near  Epping  Forest.  It  remained  there  till  his  son  built  a  new 
mansion,  and  having  no  use  for  it,  he  sold  it,  in  1758,  for  four 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  319 

occasions,,  to  defend  themselves  in  language  which 
is  far  more  impressive  than  the  most  polished  rhe- 
torical effusions. 

A  few  things  remain  to  be  noticed,,  connected 
more  immediately  with  Bishop  Laud,  before  I  close 
this  chapter.  On  the  sixth  of  March,  we  find  him 
resigning  his  parsonage  of  Ibstock,  which  he  had 
held  in  commendam,  but  for  what  reason  he  does 
not  assign  *.  On  the  16th  of  that  month,  he  re^ 
cords  in  his  Diary,  of  "  a  certain  Dutchman,  named 
John  Oventrout,"  who  said,  that  he  had  discovered 
a  mode  by  which  the  King  of  England  might  ob- 
tain possession  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  and  .as  he 
pretended  that  it  depended  much  on  religion,  Laud 
was  appointed  to  converse  with  him,  along  with 
the  principal  Secretary  of  State.  He  appears,  how-* 
ever,  to  have  been  a  visionary  Calvinistic  fanatic, 

hundred  guineas,  to  the  committee  appointed  by  Parliament  for 
the  repairing  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  where  it  now  re- 
mains. Judging  from  the  historical  figures  introduced  into  it,  its 
antiquity  cannot  be  much  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
There  is  an  account  of  it  in  a  pamphlet,  published  in  1 761,  enti- 
tled, Ornaments  of  Churches  considered ;  written  by  an  anony- 
mous writer  in  defence  of  the  churchwardens  of  St.  Margaret's, 
against  whom  articles  were  exhibited  in  the  Commissary  Court, 
for  setting  up  what  was  called  "  a  piece  of  painting  there,  wherein 
were  delineated  several  superstitious  pictures  and  images,"  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Dean  of  Westminster  :  in  Biog.Brit.  (from 
which  I  have  compiled  some  parts  of  this  note),  vol.  vi.  p.  4051, 
4052,  note  ;  and  in  Horace  Walpole's  Anecdotes  of  Painting, 
&c.  in  England. 

1  This  fact  is  maliciously  omitted  by  Prynne.  Diary,  p.  29, 
30.  compared  with  Breviat,  p.  7. 


320  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

for,  says  Laud,  "  he  shewed  not  to  us  any  method, 
how  it  might  be  taken,  unless  it  were  that  he  would 
have  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  to  be  divided  in 
the  cause  of  religion,  by  sending  in  among  them 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism  V 

But,  in  the  Convocation,  other  business  was  agi- 
tated. On  the  5th  Sunday  in  Lent,  Dr.  Goodman 
preached  a  sermon  before  the  King,  which  made 
an  uproar  at  Court,  especially  among  the  Puritan 
zealots,  because  it  was  conceived  to  teach  covertly 
the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  in  the  Communion, 
or  at  least  something  which  had  a  leaning  that  way. 
It  excited  a  dispute  in  the  Convocation,  without 
calling  forth  any  decision.  The  King  took  the 
matter  into  consideration,  and  commanded  Arch- 
bishop Abbot,  the  Bishops  of  Durham,  Winchester, 
and  Bishop  Laud,  to  meet  and  consult  about  the 
matter.  Their  decision  was,  (and  it  ought  to  be 
recollected  that  Abbot  was  one  of  the  commission,) 
"  that  some  things  were  spoken  less  cautiously, 
but  nothing  falsely :  that  nothing  was  innovated  by 
the  preacher  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
England;  and  that  the  best  way  to  remove  any  im- 
pression was,  that  the  sermon  should  be  again 
preached,  and  Bishop  Goodman  would  then  shew 
in  what  particulars  he  was  misunderstood  by  his 
audience."  This  was  accordingly  done  ;  and  here 
the  matter  terminated. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  at  this  period  there 

[  Diary,  p.  30. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  321 

existed  much  error  among  the  Puritans  respect- 
ing the  holy  communion,  and  they  had  unhappily 
adopted  the  same  opinions  as  many  of  the  modern 
Dissenters,  of  reducing  both  it  and  the  holy  sacra- 
ment of  baptism  into  mere  rites  or  symbols.  For, 
though  the  real  corporeal  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
communion  is  an  error  of  the  Papists  to  be  rejected, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  contrary  to  the  general  sense  of 
Scripture,  and  renders  the  one  great  atonement  of 
Christ  inefficacious,  yet  even  in  the  Missal,  the 
construction,  not  the  language,  is  objectionable. 
It  is  there  stated,  that  the  bread  and  wine  may  be 
to  us,  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  *,  which  language  justly  implies  a  worthy 
communicating :  and  hence,  in  opposition  to  the  re- 
ceived Popish  doctrine,  and  the  irreverent  notions 
of  Dissenters,  those  elements  are  not  mere  signs, 
but  holy  mysteries,  which,  to  those  who  worthily  and 
reverently  receive  them,  become  by  faith  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  (not,  however,  transubstan- 
tiated,) as  St.  Paul  himself  teaches,  1  Cor.  x. ;  and 
hence,  moreover,  in  the  language  of  the  Church, 
we  "  feed  on  Christ  by  faith,"  and  we  receive  as 
"  spiritual  food  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ."  It 
is  indeed  a  modern  tenet,  that  the  sacrament  is 
a  bare  sign,  taken  in  remembrance  of  Christ's 


1  The  words  of  the  Canon  of  the  Mass  are,  "  Ut  nobis  corpus 
et  sanguis^awJdilectissimi  filii  tui  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi." 
In  the  language  of  Laud,  "  nothing  can  be  more  opposite  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  present  Church  of  Rome,  than  its  own  service" 
VOL.  I.  Y 


322  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

passion J ;  but  this  tenet  is  lamentable  and  dan- 
gerous, and  tends  to  undermine  that  reverence  with 
which  those  holy  mysteries  ought  to  be  received 2. 

1  Troubles  and  Trials  of  Archbishop  Laud,  p.  123. 

3  Even  the  followers  of  Calvin,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  Calvin  himself,  if  rightly  understood,  maintain  a  true  and 
real  presence,  though  they  deny  transubstantiation.  Hence  Bel- 
larmine's  remark :  "  Sacramentarii  saepe  dicunt  reale  corpus 
Christ!  in  Coena  adesse,  sed  realiter  adesse  nunquam  dicunt, 
quod  legerim,  nisi  forte  loquuntur  de  Coena  in  ccelo." — De  Euch- 
aristo,  lib.  i.  c.  2.  §  5.  And  here  he  talks  about  the  Sacra- 
mentarians,  as  he  calls  them,  who,  he  says,  believe  in  a  Cal- 
vinistic  figment,  as  it  is  termed  by  the  Council  of  Trent.  In 
fact,  the  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  consubstantiated  presence  was 
believed  by  the  fathers  and  martyrs  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  by  Calvin,  at  Geneva.  John  Frith,  one  of  the  English 
Martyrs,  declares,  that  "  the  inward  man  doth  as  verily  receive 
Christ's  body  as  the  outward  man  receives  the  sacraments  with 
his  mouth  ;"  (Fox's  Mart.  London  edit.  1597,  vol.  ii.  p.  943.) 
and  I  need  not  quote  Cranmer,  from  the  same  work,  pp.  1311 
and  1598,  or  Bishop  Ridley,  whom  Cranmer  confesses  to 
have  convinced  on  the  subject,  he  before  being  inclined  to  the 
Zuinglian  notion.  Fox,  ut  sup.  p.  1703.  As  for  Calvin,  his 
own  words  are  vere  et  realiter,  (Calvin  in  1  Cor.  x.  3.  vere,  and 
in  1  Cor.  xi.  24,  realiter,)  and  those  who  follow  him  do  actually 
believe  the  truth,  that  the  real  and  true  body  of  Christ  is  spiri- 
tually received  in  the  Eucharist.  Bellarmine,  moreover,  quotes 
Calvin  four  times,  where  he  expressly  says,  (Bel.  De  Euchar. 
lib.  i.)  that  "  we  receive  in  the  Sacrament  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  vere  or  truly."  Now,  let  us  hear  Calvin  himself. 
"  Caeterum  his  absurditatibus  sublatis,  quicquid  ad  exprimendam 
veram  substantialemque  corporis  ac  sanguinis  Domini  commu- 
nicationem,  quae  sub  sacris  coenae  symbolis,  fidelibus  exhibetur, 
facere  potest,  libenter  accipio,"  Institut.  lib.  iv.  c.  17.  §  19. : 
and  again,  "  In  ccenae  mysterio,  per  symbola  panis  et  vini, 

' 


1626,]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  323 

Whatever  were  Goodman's  arguments,  however, 
on  this  subject,  they  seem  to  have  been  correct, 
and  offence  had  been  taken  at  them  only  by  those 
zealots  who  were  stimulated  by  the  enthusiasm' of 
the  times.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Puritans  dis- 
cussed the  subject  in  their  usual  manner,  and  re- 
presented it  to  their  adherents  very  differently  from 
the  real  state  of  the  case  *. 
• 

Christus  vere  nobis  exhibetur. — Et  nos  participes  substantiae 
ejus  facti  sumus,"  §  11.  Here  the  meaning  of  Calvin  is  ob- 
vious ;  and  the  error  of  the  Papists  and  the  sectaries  rests  in 
this,  that  the  former  believe  in  the  real  corporeal  presence, 
(Thomas  Aquinas,  p.  3.  q.  76.  Glossarium  ad  Scriptores  Mediae 
et  Supremae  Latinitatis,  auctore  Carblo  Dufresne,  tomus  tertius, 
Paris,  1733,  cols.  176 — 183.) ;  and  the  latter,  in  opposition  to 
the  received  doctrines  of  the  Church,  assert  that  the  communion 
is  nothing  more  than  a  mere  memorial  of  Christ's  dying  love,  or, 
as  they  call  it,  a  commemoration. 

1  Bishop  Goodman  seems  latterly  to  have  gone  too  far,  as  will 
appear  from  the  following  anecdote.  In  1640,  the  new  Canons 
were  set  forth,  which  he  refused  to  subscribe,  "  and  it  appeared 
afterwards,"  says  Fuller,  "  that  he  scrupled  about  some  passages 
on  the  corporeal  presence,  but  whether  upon  Popish  or  Lutheran 
principles  he  best  knoweth."  Laud,  then  Archbishop,  after 
the  clergy  had  subscribed,  advised  him  "  to  avoid  obstinacy 
and  irregularity  therein,  but  he  refused."  It  was  in  Henry  VII.'s 
Chapel,  and  being  greatly  offended,  Laud  said  to  him,  "  My 
Lord  of  Gloucester,  I  admonish  you  to  subscribe."  Goodman 
remained  silent,  and  Laud  again  said,  "My  Lord  of  Gloucester, 
I  do  admonish  you  a  second  time  to  subscribe,"  and  immediately 
after,  "  I  do  admonish  you  a  third  time  to  subscribe."  Good- 
man "  pleaded  conscience,"  and  was  in  consequence  suspended. 
He  was  committed  to  the  Gatehouse,  "  where,"  says  Fuller,  "  he 
got  by  this  restraint  what  he  could  never  have  got  by  his  liberty, 

Y   2 


324  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

Nothing  remarkable   happened  at  this  period, 
except  the  King's  proclamation,  issued  on  the  14th 
of  June,  concerning  Montague's  affair,  which  the 
Convocation  had  wisely  declined  to  discuss.    In  this 
proclamation  the  King  declared  his  determined  re- 
solution to  guard  the  Church  of  England  from  all 
innovations.     He  observed,  that  "  in  all  ages  great 
disturbances,  both  in  Church  and  State,  have  issued 
out  of  small  beginnings,  when  the  seeds  of  con 
tention  were  not  timely  prevented ;  and  finding  that 
of  late   some   questions   and   opinions   had   been 
broached  in  matters  of  doctrine  and  tenets  of  our 
religion,  by  which  the  professors   of  our  religion 
may  be   drawn   first  into  schism,    and  then  into 
Popery,  he  hereby  published  to  all  the  world  his 
utter  dislike  of  all  those  who,  to  shew  the  subtlety 
of  their  wits,  or  to  please  their  own  humours,  or 
vent  their  own  passions,  shall  adventure  to  start 
any  new  opinions  not  only  contrary  to,  but  differ- 
ing from,  the  sound  and  orthodox  grounds  of  the 
religion,  established  in  the  Church  of  England ;" 
and  he  thereby  enjoined  his  reverend  archbishops 
and  bishops  in  their  several  dioceses,  et  speedily  to 
reclaim  and  repress  all  such  spirits  as  shall  in  the 
least  degree  attempt  to  violate  this  bond  of  peace :" 
threatening  exemplary  punishment  to  those  who 
disobeyed  !. 

namely,  of  one  reputed  a  Papist,  to  become  for  a  short  time 
popular,  as  the  only  consequent  suffering  for  not  subscribing 
to  the  new  canons."     Puller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  170. 
J  Kushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  part  1.  p,  412,  413. 


; 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  325 

It  is  observed  by  Rushworth,  that  "  the  effects 
of  this  proclamation,  how  equally  soever  intended, 
became  the  stopping  of  the  Puritan's  mouths,  and 
an  uncontrolled  liberty  to  the  tongues  and  pens  of 
the  Arminian  party  V  But  when  we  recollect  the 
conduct  of  the  Parliament  in  Montague's  case,  we 
at  once  see  the  wisdom  of  the  King's  resolutions. 
For,  as  the  House  of  Commons  had  referred  their 
considerations  on  Montague's  book  to  what  they 
called  their  Committee  for  Religion,  on  the  18th  of 
April,  the  sages  of  that  Committee  transmitted 
their  report,  through  Pym  their  chairman,  on  which 
they  passed  a  vote  in  condemnation  of  the  book. 
Ludicrous  as  it  was  to  see  the  Commons  sitting  as 
theological  doctors,  and  reckoning  no  points  of 
divinity  too  abstruse  for  their  comprehensions,  this 
conduct  was  excelled  by  their  subsequent  proceed- 
ings, more  especially  as  they  imagined  that  they 
had  effectually  silenced  Montague,  gained  a  signal 
triumph  to  their  party,  and  completely  condemned 
what  they  termed  Arminianism.  Immediately,  in 
addition  to  the  writers  already  mentioned  against 
Montague,  numbers  of  the  seditious  enthusiasts 
began  a  discussion,  among  whom  were  Prynne, 
Wotton,  and  Burton,  so  that,  as  Heylin  well  re- 
marks, "  the  encounter  seemed  to  be  betwixt  a 
whole  army  and  a  single  person."  But  the  King's 
proclamation  operated  as  a  powerful  restraint. 
Laud  and  others  we  find  busy  in  fulfilling  the  King's 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  part  i.  p.  413. 


326  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626, 

injunctions  :  seditious  pamphlets  were  stopped  at 
the  press,  and  the  sale  of  others  was  prohibited  ; 
while  cognizance  was  taken  of  the  authors  and 
printers.  Burton  and  Prynne,  in  particular,  were 
cited  before  the  High  Commission  Court,  and  they 
would  have  been  punished,  had  not  their  friends  in 
the  Parliament  procured  an  order  to  withhold  the 
prosecution.  It  would  appear  that  they  behaved 
themselves  with  so  great  insolence,  that  Laud  had 
almost  resolved  to  make  them  more  peaceable  by 
somex  salutary  discipline.  The  second  Parliament 
was  now  dissolved  *,  but  the  Puritans  cherished 
against  the  government  their  accustomed  hatred, 
which  was  not  a  little  augmented  by  the  above  pro- 
ceedings. The  observation  of  Heylin  is  here  re- 
markably in  point,  that  "  from  this  time  hence- 
forth we  must  look  for  nothing  from  both  those 
Hotspurs  (Burton  and  Prynne)  but  desire  of  re- 
venge, a  violent  opposition  to  all  persons  whatso- 
ever, who  did  not  coincide  with  them,  or  who  were 
not  stimulated  by  the  same  outrageous  zeal  V 

1  Vide  the  King's  Declaration  in  Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  406— 
411. 

!  Cyprianus  Anglicus,  p.  148. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  327 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1626—1629. 

Removal  of  Laud  to  the  Bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells— His  ap- 
pointment to  manage  the  subsidies  by  loan — Remarks  on  his 
instructions — Apology  for  the  King's  conduct — His  hazard- 
ous situation — Death  of  Bishop  Andrews — Laud's  appoint- 
ment— Bishop  Williams — His  conduct — Comment  on  it — 
Dr.  Sibthorpe  and  Sir  John  Lamb — Sermons  by  Dr.  Sibthorpe 
and  Dr.  Manwaring — Their  fallacious  positions — Passive 
obedience— Sentiments  of  the  two  preachers — Remarks  on  the 
doctrine  of  non-resistance — Definition  of  it — The  opinions  of 
the  Classic  writers  and  the  Primitive  Christians — Of  modern 
writers — Publication  of  the  sermons — Conduct  of  Archbishop 
Abbot — His  sequestration — Received  again  into  favour— 'Pub- 
lic affairs — Transactions  of  Buckingham — Promotion  of  Laud 
— The  bishopric  of  London — Its  importance — Dr.  Montaigne 
— Death  of  Archbishop  Matthews  of  York — The  third  Par- 
liament— Impolitic  measures  of  the  King — Meeting  of  the 
Parliament — Conduct  of  the  Commons — Their  proceedings — 
Specimens  of  their  injustice — Their  practices — Arminianism 
•—Subtle  tenets  of  Calvin — Remarks  on  Arminianism — Defini- 
tion of  it — Observations  on  the  Synod  ofDort — Remonstrance 
of  the  Commons  against  Laud  and  Neile — Pretended  Letter 
of  a  Jesuit — Remarks  on  it — Practices  of  the  Jesuits — Their 
union  with  the  Puritans — Prorogation  of  the  Parliament — 
Laud  removed  to  the  Bishopric  of  London — General  observa- 
tions. 

As  it  is  not  my  intention  to  go  minutely  into  detail 
on  the  general  connected  history  of  this  momentous 


328  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

period,  except  where  it  illustrates  the  conduct  and 
actions  of  this  great  prelate,  the  candid  reader 
will  perhaps  pardon  whatever  may  seem  to  have 
been  passed  over  hastily  in  the  former  chapter, 
since  it  is  impossible  in  these  limits  to  do  justice  to 
the  events  recorded.  It  is  now  necessary  to  follow 
minutely  the  order  of  those  times. 

Laud  had  been  five  years  in  the  See  of  St. 
David's,  during  which  period  he  had  been  engaged 
in  state  affairs,  though  not  unmindful  of  the  welfare 
of  the  Church.  His  fidelity  had  secured  for  him 
the  favour  of  the  King,  and  it  was  just  that  his 
services  should  be  rewarded.  On  the  4th  of  May, 
1626,  Dr.  Arthur  Lake1,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  died  at  London,  and  on  the  20th  of  June 
Laud  was  nominated  by  the  King  to  the  vacant 
see.  After  his  nomination,  we  find  him  preaching 
before  the  King  and  Court  at  Whitehall,  on  the 
5th  of  July, — a  day  appointed  as  a  solemn  fast, 
"  partly  on  account  of  the  pestilence  yet  raging  in 
many  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  partly  on  account 
of  the  danger  of  enemies  threatening  us 2."  This 
sermon  was  afterwards  published  by  command  of 
the  King,  and  is  the  fourth  of  those  preached  on 

1  This  prelate  was  at  first  Warden  of  New  College,  Oxford, 
then  Master  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Cross,  Dean  of  Worcester, 
and,  finally,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  He  was  brother  to  Sir 
Thomas  Lake,  Secretary  to  King  James.  He  was  a  man  of 
most  exemplary  piety  and  great  learning.  Heylin,  p.  151. 
Fuller,  book  xi.  p.  126.  Wood,  Athen,  Oxon.  vol.  iii. 

*  Diary,  p.  34. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  329 

public  occasions1.  On  the  16th  of  August  he 
was  translated  to  Bath  and  Wells,  and  on  the 
19th  of  September  he  had  restitution  of  the  tem- 
poralities 2. 

About  this  period  Laud  was  appointed  by  Charles 
to  draw  out  certain  instructions  for  the  Arch- 
bishops, Bishops,  and  Clergy  of  the  kingdom.  The 
two  Parliaments  had  refused  to  grant  the  King  the 
usual  subsidies,  and  taking  an  ungenerous  advan- 
tage of  his  necessities,  they  had  acted  in  a  man- 
ner which  warranted  their  immediate  dissolution. 
As  nothing  could  be  got  from  the  Parliament, 
the  "King's  only  resource  was  by  way  of  loan, 
since,  though  bills  for  three  subsidies  had  passed, 
the  Parliament  had  been  dissolved  before  they 
had  become  acts  of  statute.  The  sum  of  173,41 11. 
was  deemed  equal  to  three  subsidies,  which  was 
the  sum  required  to  be  raised,  and  as  the  King 
had  already  pledged  the  crown  plate  and  jewels, 
and  sold  property  to  the  city  of  London  to  the 
amount  of  120,000/.  he  had  no  other  resource  than 
this  expedient.  Had  the  Parliament  been  actuated 
less  by  the  outrageous  enthusiasm  of  Puritanism ; 
had  they,  instead  of  appointing  committees  on  reli- 

1  They  were  all  published  in  4to.  in  the  respective  years  they 
were  preached,  viz.  1621,  1622,  1625,  1626,  and  1628. 

2  Diary,  p.  35,  36.  Under  August  25,  we  find  the  following 
entry.     "  Friday,  two  robin-redbreasts  flew  together  through 
the  door  into  my  study,  as  if  one  pursued  the  other.     That 
sudden  motion  almost  startled  me.     I  was  then  preparing  a 
sermon  on  Ephes.  iv.  30,  and  studying." 


330  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

gion,  transacted  the  business  of  the  nation,  and  left 
the  concerns  of  religion  to  those  whose  duty  it  was, 
as  well  from  their  education  as  from  their  responsi- 
bility, to  superintend  them,  Charles  would  never 
have  been  compelled  to  have  had  recourse  to  such 
expedients  to  preserve  his  own  dignity,  and  his  ho- 
nour towards  his  allies.  But  the  public  encourage- 
ment of  schismatics,  whose  hatred  towards  the 
Church  even  exceeded  that  of  the  Papists,  fomented 
the  sectarian  fanaticism  of  the  times,  and  cherished 
that  dangerous  spirit  which  was  destined  to  run  to 
fearful  extremes.  The  King,  actuated  by  his  regard 
for  the  Protestant  Reformation,  and  bound  by  his 
political  relations,  wished  to  aid  his  uncle,  the  King 
of  Denmark,  who  was  as  much  involved  as  him- 
self with  the  Kings  of  France  and  Spain,  their  com- 
mon enemies ;  but  his  Parliament  had  disappointed 
him,  his  subsidies  were  denied,  and  he  himself,  who, 
from  his  situation,  was  held  as  the  grand  supporter 
of  the  Reformed  Faith,  was  rendered  ridiculous  in 
the  eyes  both  of  the  Protestant  and  Popish  states  of 
Europe. 

The  King's  instructions  were  communicated  to 
Laud  through  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  by  whom 
he  was  given  to  understand,  that  he  was  to  prepare 
letters  to  be  issued  to  the  two  archbishops,  and  their 
suffragans,  the  contents  of  which  were  to  be  com- 
municated by  the  latter  to  the  inferior  clergy,  and 
by  them  to  the  people,  persuading  them  to  pay 
cheerfully  the  taxations  necessary  to  be  imposed 
upon  them,  since  it  was  for  the  general  peace  of 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  331 

Christendom,  and  the  welfare  of  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion. The  instructions,  as  Laud  informs  us,  were 
"  partly  political,  and  partly  ecclesiastical,  in  the 
cause  of  the  King  of  Denmark,"  and  were  to  be 
published  in  every  parish  of  the  kingdom.  The 
Bishop  engaged  in  this  confidential  duty  with  his 
wonted  alacrity,  more  especially  as  he  saw  the 
King's  peculiar  situation,  and  knew  well  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Puritans  in  the  two  dissolved  Par- 
liaments. A  few  days  after  he  received  the  royal 
commands,  he  had  his  instructions  prepared ;  they 
were  first  read  to  the  Duke,  and  then  to  the  King, 
who  expressed  his  approbation,  and  they  finally  re- 
ceived the  full  assent  of  the  Lords  of  the  Privy 
Council.  They  were  issued  in  the  form  of  a  letter 
from  the  King  to  the  two  Archbishops,  and  were 
by  them  communicated  to  their  suffragans,  who  in 
turn  published  them  in  their  respective  dioceses. 

It  is,  perhaps,  a  difficult  matter  to  justify  these 
instructions :  not  that  Laud,  as  the  author  or  writer 
of  them,  is  to  blame,  because  he  only  acted  as  a  faith- 
ful servant  to  the  King ;  but  because  they  afford 
a  dangerous  precedent,  which,  were  it  followed, 
would  be  attended  with  the  worst  consequences. 
It  appears  from  these  instructions  19  that  the  people 
were  to  be  taxed  without  the  consent  of  Parliament, 
or  without  an  investigation  of  its  necessity  by  their 
representatives  in  the  Lower  House.  It  is,  indeed, 
true,  that  the  nation  had  never  been  represented  in 

1  Heylin,  p,  154,  155,  156. 


332  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

the  two  former  Parliaments,  or,  if  the  Puritan 
members  spoke  the  language  of  their  constituents, 
Charles  had  little  chance  of  success  with  the  people, 
v/ho  were  more  inflamed  by  those  schismatics,  after 
the  dissolution.  But,  to  tax  the  nation  at  all, 
without  the  consent  of  the  two  Houses,  which  form 
most  essential  parts  in  the  constitution,  was,  un- 
questionably, though  n9t  without  precedent,  against 
the  principles  of  the  monarchy,  and  was,  besides, 
calculated  to  render  the  King  more  unpopular.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  members  of  the 
late  Parliaments,  especially  those  who  had  com- 
posed the  Lower  House,  would  look  with  indiffer- 
ence on  this  measure  ;  and  as  they  absurdly  wished 
to  lodge  the  whole  executive  government  with 
themselves,  and  make  the  King  a  mere  instrument 
in  their  hands,  with  these  arbitrary  notions  of  par- 
liamentary power,  they  would  at  once  take  the 
alarm,  and  influence  the  people  by  their  false  re- 
presentations. And  it  would  have  been  an  easy 
thing  to  effect  their  purposes,  and  oppose  the  King, 
for  it  might  be  fully  expected,  from  their  previous 
conduct,  that  they  would  be  the  last  persons  to 
criminate  themselves,  which  they  must  have  done, 
had  they  explained  the  King's  situation. 

But  while  it  appears  to  me,  from  these  instruc- 
tions drawn  up  by  Laud,  that  the  people  were  to 
be  taxed  without  the  consent  of  Parliament,  and, 
therefore,  so  far  as  I  understand  the  subject,  if  it 
was  not  without  precedents  in  former  reigns,  it  was 
at  least  unconstitutional,  and  against  the  essential 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  333 

principles  of  a  free  monarchy  such  as  that  of  Bri- 
tain, where  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  equally 
legislate,  I  do  not  say  that  Charles  cannot  be  justi- 
fied. It  must  be  recollected,  that  no  monarch  was 
ever  placed  in  more  hazardous  or  trying  circum- 
stances. Annoyed  by  turbulent  schismatics  on  the 
one  hand,  and  by  Papists  on  the  other;  disap- 
pointed by  the  proceedings  of  his  Parliaments,  who 
neglected  the  chief  business  of  the  state  for  matters 
with  which  they  had  little  concern,  and  which  only 
gratified  their  enthusiasm ;  and  finding  that  they 
represented  him  in  the  worst  possible  manner  to  the 
people,  this  was,  perhaps,  the  only  expedient  which 
Charles  could  adopt,  inasmuch  as  he  had  found 
the  summoning  of  Parliaments  of  no  utility.  And, 
though  it  must  be  admitted,  that  the  pulpit  ought 
not  to  be  the  place  for  enforcing  political  measures, 
yet,  from  the  fact,  that  the  Church  of  England  is 
an  essential  part  of  the  British  Constitution,  and 
also,  because  the  clergy,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
daily  ministrations,  are  more  immediately  brought 
into  contact  with  the  people,  they  were  the  only 
persons  by  whom  the  King's  conduct  could  be 
fairly  and  justly  represented.  And,  moreover,  as, 
notwithstanding  the  objections  of  schismatics  and 
visionary  zealots,  the  alliance  between  Church  and 
State,  in  other  words,  a  church  %  law  established, 
is  not  only  necessary,  but  highly  imperative,  both 
from  Scripture  and  antiquity,  for  the  welfare  and 
advancement  of  true  religion ;  it  is  just  that  the 
State  should  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Church  in  mat- 


334  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

ters  partly  ecclesiastical  and  partly  political,  be- 
cause, generally  speaking,  the  Church  is  part  of 
the  State,  the  one  is  connected  with,  and  dependent 
on,  the  other.  And  it  is  to  be  farther  observed,  that 
these  instructions  were  not  designed  as  a  law,  but 
merely  as  a  resource  upon  a  trying  emergency :  the 
taxation,  if  it  may  be  called  so,  for  it  rather  appears 
to  have  been  a  kind  of  voluntary  subsidy,  was  to 
be  recommended,  not  enforced;  the  clergy  were 
commanded  to  "  instruct  and  exhort  the  people," 
by  explaining  to  them  the  peculiar  aspect  of  affairs 
abroad ;  they  were  "  rightly  to  inform  the  people 
committed  to  their  care,  that  this  war,  which  now 
was  so  pregnant  with  danger,  was  not  undertaken 
rashly,  or  without  advice  :"  and,  as  if  to  explain  the 
dark  practices  of  the  two  Parliaments,  they  were  re- 
minded that  all  treaties  between  Spain  and  France 
had  been  dissolved  by  their  advice,  and  that  they 
alone  stimulated  the  war  with  Spain.  "  To  effect 
this,"  said  the  King,  speaking  in  the  language  of 
Laud,  "  they  desired  our  aid  and  assistance,  and 
urged  us  to  work  our  dear  father  to  entertain  this 
course.  This,  upon  their  persuasions  and  promises 
of  supply,  we  readily  undertook  and  effected,  and 
cannot  now  be  left  in  the  business  without  the  sin 
and  shame  of  all  men  : — sin,  because  aid  a*nd  sup- 
ply for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  like 
affairs  of  state,  especially  such  as  are  advised  and 
assumed  by  parliamentary  counsel,  are  due  to  the 
King  from  his  people,  by  all  law  both  of  God  and 
man  : — and  shame,  if  they  forsake  the  King,  while 


•i 

1626.]  OP-ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  335 

he  pursues  their  own  counsel,  just  and  honourable, 
and  which  could  not,  under  God,  but  have  been  as 
successful,  if  it  had  been  followed  and  supplied  in 
time,  as  we  desired  and  laboured  to  effect."  The 
King  declares  that  he  trusts  to  the  loyal  hearts  of 
his  people  to  aid  him  in  his  emergencies, — he  re- 
commends to  the  clergy  a  diligent  discharge  of 
their  sacred  duties,  and  to  "  direct  and  encourage 
his  loving  people,  in  this  and  all  other  necessary 
services,  both  of  God,  the  Church,  and  the  throne." 
Now,  when  we  bear  in  memory,  that  the  measure 
in  question  was  not  to  be  enforced  by  law,  as  in- 
deed it  could  not,  wanting  the  sanction  of  Parlia- 
ment, it  will  appear  evident  that,  though  the  mea- 
sure was  in  itself  impolitic,  and  eventually  fruitless, 
yet,  when  we  take  into  account  the  King's  situa- 
tion, and  the  previous  conduct  of  the  Puritans,  he 
cannot  be  said  to  have  encroached  on  the  liberties 
of  the  people,  by  any  undue  exercise  of  the  royal 
prerogative  *. 

1  It  is  necessary  here  to  mention,  in  vindication  of  the  above 
remarks,  that  a  distinction  must  be  kept  in  view  between  the 
instructions  to  the  Clergy,  to  which  of  course  I  peculiarly  refer 
in  the  text,  and  the  King's  Declaration  to  the  people  concerning 
the  loan,  and  its  conditions.  The  King's  uncle,  the  King  of 
Denmark,  had  been  brought  into  trouble  chiefly  for  his  espous- 
ing the  cause  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  the  King's  brother-in- 
law.  In  the  King's  private  instructions  to  the  Commissioners, 
they  were  commanded  to  enforce  it  from  every  individual,  if 
they  would  not  otherwise  assent.  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  part.  i. 
p.  418—422.  Whitelock's  Memorials,  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist, 
vol.  ii.  Hume,  Rapin,  &c. 
7 


336  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

But,  whatever  opinions  may  be  entertained  on  this 
subject,  one  thing  is  clear,  that  Laud  acted  as  a 
faithful  servant  to  a  prince,  who  was  every  where 
surrounded  by  difficulties,  from  which  his  Parlia- 
ments would  not  relieve  him.  The  advancement  of 
religion,  and  the  welfare  of  the  Church,  were 
Charles'  great  objects,  and  Laud  was  well  qualified 
.to  judge  on  these  important  matters.  By  his  wise 
and  prudent  management  of  this  affair,  he  was  still 
farther  advanced  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  King ; 
nor  were  his  services  allowed  to  pass  unrewarded. 
At  this  very  time  died  Dr.  Launcelot  Andrews, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Dean  of  the  Chapel 
Royal ;  a  prelate  whose  name  is  recorded  among 
the  illustrious  worthies  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Grave  without  affectation,  profoundly  learned  with- 
out pedantry,  religious  without  any  of  the  Puritan 
fanaticism,  this  distinguished  prelate  and  great  man 
ought  never  to  be  mentioned  without  reverence  and 
admiration l.  His  dignified  and  serious  deportment 
is  said  to  have  restrained  Charles  from  any  inclina- 
tion to  merriment  in  his  presence.  His  publica- 
tions are  not  very  numerous,  but  such  as  remain 
are  sufficient  indications  of  his  profound  acquire- 
ments 2.  After  his  decease,  the  See  of  Winchester 

x  i  Fuller,  book  xi.  p.  126.     Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  iii. 
Collier,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  739. 

2  The  Works  which  Bishop  Andrews  published  during  his  life- 
time were  two  volumes  in  Latin,  written  in  defence  of  King 
James  against  the  attacks  of  the  learned  Cardinal  Bellarmine, 
already  mentioned.  In  1609,  when  Bishop  Andrews  was  in 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  337 

was  vacant  for  nearly  two  years,  the  King  appro- 
priating its  revenues  to  supply  his  necessities1 ;  but 
Laud  was  appointed,  on  the  3d  of  October,  Dean  of 
the  Chapel  Royal ;  and  on  the  6th  he  was  admitted, 

the  See  of  Chichester,  appeared  a  quarto  volume,  entitled, 
"  Tortura  Torti,  sive,  ad  Matthaei  Torti  Librum  Resppnsio,  qui 
nuper  editus  contra  Apologiam  serenissimi  potentissimique  prin- 
cipis  Jacobi,  Dei  Gratia  Magnae  Britanniae,  Franciae,  et  Hiber- 
niae  Regis,  pro  juramento  fidelitatis."  In  1610,  Bellarmine 
published,  "  Pro  Responsione  sua  ad  Librum  Jacobi,  Magnae 
Britanniae  Regis,  cui  titulus  est;,  triplici  modo  triplex  cuneus, 
Apologia."  Bishop  Andrews,  now  in  the  See  of  Ely,  replied  to 
Bellarmine  the  same  year,  in  a  quarto  volume  published  at 
London,  entitled,  "  Responsio  ad  Apologiam  Cardinalis  Bellar- 
mini,  quam  nuper  edidit  contra  Praefationem  Monitoriam  sere- 
nissimi ac  potentissimi  principis  Jacobi,  &c.  omnibus  Christianis 
Monarchis,  Principibus,  atque  Ordinibus  inscriptam."  He  also 
wrote  a  small  tract,  entitled,  "  Determinatio  Theologica,  de  jure- 
jurando  exigendo,"  4to.  London,  1593.  (Heylin,  p.  157.  Brittan. 
Scriptores,)  and  a  small  volume  of  sermons.  But  after  his  death, 
Laud,  and  Buckeridge,  Bishop  of  Ely,  the  latter  having  been  re- 
moved to  that  See  from  Rochester  the  year  before,  collected  and 
published  ninety-six  of  his  sermons  in  1628,  and  dedicated  them 
to  the  King.  Some  other  productions  were  also  published  in  1 628. 
Bishop  Buckeridge  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  which  is  printed 
at  the  end  of  the  large  volume  of  sermons,  in  which  his  charac- 
ter is  admirably  drawn.  A  small  book  appeared  as  his  during  his 
life-time,  entitled  Catechetical  Doctrines,  which  he  would  never 
acknowledge,  it  being  published,  he  said,  without  his  consent, 
and  containing  imperfect  extracts  from  his  lectures,  when  he 
read  the  Catechism  Lecture  at  Pembroke  Hall,  Oxford. 

1  This  expedient  of  Charles  cannot  be  justified,  nevertheless 
it  is  not  without  precedent,  as  will  be  found  in  the  History  of 
Winchester,  in  Hume's  History,  vol.  ii.  Carte's  History,  Rapin, 
Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  i.  Le  Neve's  Fasti. 

VOL.  I.  7. 


338  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

by  the  Earl  of  Montgomery,  Lord  Chamberlain, 
after  taking  the  usual  oaths.  This  promotion  was 
an  act  of  especial  favour  on  the  part  of  the  King, 
although  Charles  had  another  eminence  in  reserve 
for  him ;  for  on  the  2d  of  October,  two  days  after 
his  nomination  to  this  office,  we  find  him  recording 
in  his  Diary,  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  had 
signified  to  him  the  King's  resolution,  that,  in  the 
event  of  Archbishop  Abbot's  decease,  who  was  at 
this  time  very  infirm,  he  should  be  removed  to  the 
See  of  Canterbury l. 

We  are  now  to  observe  the  effects  of  these  in* 
structions  on  the  people,  as  connected  with  the 
clergy.  Many  of  the  inferior  clergy  were  zeal- 
ous in  opposing  the  enemies  of  the  Church ;  among 
whom  was  Dr.  Robert  Sibthorpe,  vicar  of  Brackley, 
Northamptonshire.  But  among  those  who  resisted 


1  Diary,  p.  36.  Breviat,  by  Prynne,  p.  9.  It  appears  from 
the  Diary,  p.  36,  37,  and  Heylin,  p.  158,  that  from  the  begin- 
ning of  James'  reign,  the  sovereign  never  attended  prayers  in 
the  chapel-royal,  but  whenever  he  appeared,  the  anthem  was 
begun,  and  the  preacher  entered  the  pulpit. ,  Laud,  how- 
ever, who  rightly  thought,  that  the  sermon,  being  a  mere  human 
composition  and  no  part  of  public  worship,  was  of  the  very 
least  consequence,  as  it  really  is,  recommended  to  his  Majesty 
to  attend  prayers,  or,  at  least,  whenever  he  entered  the  chapel,; 
that  the  officiating  priest  might  proceed  to  the  end  of  the  service 
without  interruption.  "  The  most  religious  King,"  says  he,  in 
his  pious  notation,  "  not  only  assented  to  this  request,  but  also 
gave  me  thanks.  This  had  not  been  hitherto  done,  from  the 
beginning  of  James'  reign  to  this  day.  Now,  thanks  be  to 
God,  it  obtaineth."  Collier's  Eccles.  History,  voL  ii.  p.  740. 


1026.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  339 

the  loan  was  Dr.  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  who, 
since  his  disgrace  at  Court,  had  been  indefatigable 
in  thwarting  his  former  friends,  and  seemed  to 
avenge  himself  by  openly  patronising  the  Puritans. 
Sibthorpe  and  Sir  John  Lamb  anticipating  the  dan- 
ger which  would  arise  from  the  laxity  of  that  prelate, 
represented  to  him  the  seditious  state  of  the  coun- 
try in  his  diocese,  that  it  was  overrun  by  factious 
persons,  who  would  not  conform  to  the  Church,  but 
who  held  unlawful  fasts  and  meetings  upon  the  pre- 
tence of  religious  worship ;  that,  in  particular,  they 
held  one  fast  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  eight  at 
night ;  that  they  collected  money  without  autho- 
rity, and,  therefore,  they  desired  permission  to  take 
cognizance  of  them.  Williams,  however,  who  had 
not  forgotten  Laud's  opposition  to  him,  and  the 
decline  of  the  King's  favour,  was  determined  to  take 
his  own  way,  and  to  gratify  his  revenge  against  the 
Court,  by  encouraging  the  faction.  "  I  will  not 
proceed,"  said  he,  "  against  the  Puritans,  for  /  ex- 
pect not  another  bishopric.  You  may  complain  of 
them,  if  you  please,  at  the  Council ;  but  I  am  under 
a  cloud  already,  and  have  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
for  my  enemy.  I  wish  not  to  excite  the  Puritans 
against  myself,  as  I  am  certain  they  will  eventually 
prevail.  Besides,  the  King,  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign,  gave  a  declaration  in  favour  of  the  Puritans, 
in  reply  to  a  petition  from  the  Lower  House." 

When  Bishop  Williams  uttered  this  deplorable 
language,  in  which  there  was  so  much  of  the  am- 
bitious ecclesiastic,  and  so  little  of  the  Christian 

z  2 


340  i  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

Bishop,  and,  above  all,  so  little  regard  for  the  Church 
of  which  he  was  a  dignitary,  he  forgot,  or  pretended 
to  forget,  in  the  advantage  which  he  took  of  the 
King's  Declaration  at  Oxford,  that  it  chiefly  bore 
against  the  Popish  recusants,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  Puritans,  being  at  the  opposite  extreme, 
were  not  permitted  to  pass  without  animadversion. 
But  his  conduct  was  unbecoming  his  rank  and  situa- 
tion, and  we  evidently  discover  the  language  of  the 
discontented  and  disappointed  courtier,  who,  if  he 
had  been  otherwise  situated,  would  have  willingly 
aided  the*  Church  to  repress  the  faction,  had  he 
conceived  that  his  own  interest  would  have  been  ad- 
vanced. He  expected,  he  said,  no  other  bishopric; 
he  saw  that  the  Puritans  would  prevail;  and, 
therefore,  if  he  did  not  proceed  against  them,  he 
might  perhaps  be  permitted  to  enjoy  his  temporali- 
ties. Such  was  doubtless  his  inference  ;  but  he 
would  have  been  much  more  consistent  had  he  done 
his  duty,  and  nobly  resolved  to  fall  with  the  Church, 
if  it.  was  destined  to  fall.  Dr.  Sibthorpe  and  Sir 
John  Lamb,  however,  still  pressed  him  to  take 
cognizance  of  the  schismatics ;  upon  which  he  asked 
them,  what  manner  of  people  they  were,  and  of 
what  condition.  "  They  seem  to  the  world,"  re- 
plied Sir  John  Lamb,  "to  be  such  as  would  not 
sw6ar,  whore,  nor  drink ;  yet  can  they  lie,  cozen, 
and  deceive1.  They  frequently  hear  two  sermons 

1  I  do  not  insert  this  language  as  if  it  were  literally  true, 
and,  although  there  were  many  instances  of  licentiousness,  it  must 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  341 

a  day,  repeat  the  same  again,  fast  all  clay  long,  and 
pray/'  The  Bishop  then  demanded,  if  they  com- 
plied with  the  loan  ;  and  being  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  he  denied  that  they  were  Puritans,  and, 
therefore,  would  not  proceed  against  them  1.  Sib- 
thorpe  then  told  him,  that  he  was  sorry  the  Church 
was  so  ill  governed  ;  and  transmitting  these  facts 
to  the  Court,  an  information  was  laid  against  the 
Bishop  in  the  Star-Chamber,  for  which  he  was  after- 
wards brought  into  trouble2. 

be  received  with  caution.  Generally  speaking,  little  can  be  said 
against  the  Puritans  on  that  subject,  yet  there  were  many  in- 
stances of  hypocrisy,  hot  in  the  people  only,  but  in  the  leaders, 
and  their  extraordinary  pretensions  to  religion  tended  very  much 
to  make  them  feel  nothing  of  its  influence.  Religion,  as  I  have 
elsewhere  stated,  for  I  profess  myself  to  be  no  zealot  for  evange- 
lism in  the  present  use  of  the  word  evangelical,  does  not  consist 
in  any  peculiar  phraseology,  in  superior  pretensions  to  sanctity, 
or  in  noisy  parade  and  ostentation,  such  as  to  be  seen  in  too 
many  meetings  of  the  day,  in  (alas  !)  and  out  of  the  Church, 
but  it  consists  in  the  quiet  and  unobstrusive  devotions  of  the 
heart,  it  is  modest  and  retiring,  doing  good  as  there  is  opportu- 
nity. Whatever  might  be  the  practice  of  the  Puritans,  it  is  not 
my  business  to  inquire  ;  our  present  concern  is  with  their  prin- 
ciples. 

1  This  reasoning  of  the  Bishop  was  absurd.     He  concluded 
that  because  a  man  complied  with  the  loan  he  mas  no  Puritan. 
On  the  same  principle,  if  the  Papists  complied,  and  many  of 
them  did  so,  they  were  not  Papists.     Some  of  the  Puritans,  or 
Calvinists,  were  well  affected  towards  the  King,  and  Sibthorpe 
wanted  the  Bishop  to  proceed  against  them,  not  in  a  civil,  but 
in  an  ecclesiastical  manner,  as  enemies  to  the  Church,  which 
they  undoubtedly  were. 

2  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  420,  421.     About  this  time  Laud  has 


342  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

The  clergy  who  were  well  affected  towards  the 
Church  acted  according  to  the  instructions  of  the 
Court,  and  explained  to  the  people  the  King's  pecu- 
liar situation,  for  which  they  have  been  ignorantly 
charged  with  preaching  the  famous  doctrine  of  pas- 
sive obedience.  But  the  two  preachers  whose  ser- 
mons excited  the  greatest  interest,  were  Dr.  Robert 
Sibthorpe,  the  vicar  of  Brackley,  as  aforesaid,  arid 
Dr.  Roger  Manwaring,  one  of  the  King's  Chaplains, 
and  Rector  of  St.  Giles'  in  the  Fields.  At  the  Lent 
Assizes,  held  at  Northampton,  Feb.  22,  1626,  Dr. 
Sibthorpe  preached  a  discourse  from  Rom.  xiii.  7. 
"  Render  therefore  to  all  their  dues  ;"  and  the  pur- 
port of  that  sermon  was,  "  to  justify  the  lawfulness 
of  the  general  loan,  and  of  the  King's  imposing  taxes 
by  his  own  royal  power,  without  consent  of  Parlia- 


entered  in  his  Diary  a  dream.  "  Sunday,  January  14,  towards 
morning,  I  dreamed  that  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  came,  I  knew  not 
whither,  with  iron  chains,  but  returning  loosed  from  them,  leaped 
on  horseback,  went  away,  neither  could  I  overtake  him."  Rush- 
worth  interprets  this  dream  as  signifying  the  release  of  the  Bishop 
from  his  confinement,  his  advancement  to  the  See  of  York,  and 
Laud's  own  confinement  and  subsequent  trials.  It  is  an  easy 
thing  to  interpret  a  dream  after  the  person's  death,  and  to 
fasten  it  on  any  action  of  the  person  which  may  be  con- 
venient. Certainly,  Laud's  dispute  with  Williams  made  a  con- 
siderable impression  upon  his  mind,  as  appears  from  various 
parts  of  his  Diary.  Mr.  Hallam  chooses  to  look  upon  these 
notations  of  dreams,  &c.  as  weaknesses,  (Constitutional  His- 
tory of  England,  4to.  vol.  ii.)  but,  with  all  due  respect  for  Mr. 
H.'s  authority,  I  am  inclined  to  look  upon  them  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent light. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  343 

ment ;  and  to  prove  that  the  people,  in  point  of 
conscience  and  of  religion,  ought  cheerfully  to  sub- 
mit to  such  loans  and  taxes  without  any  opposi- 
tion V  These  singular,  and  it  must  not  be  denied, 
unconstitutional  propositions,  which  in  their  princi- 
ples are  dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  he 
endeavoured  to  illustrate  by  a  variety  of  scriptural 
arguments.  Referring  to  the  aspect  of  the  times, 
he  thus  addressed  his  auditors :  "  Seriously  consi- 
der how,  as  Jeroboam  took  the  opportunity  of  the 
breach  between  Rehoboam  and  his  subjects  to 
bring  idolatry  into  Israel,  so  the  Papists  lie  in  wait 
if  they  could  find  a  breach  between  our  sovereign 
and  his  subjects,  which  the  Lord  forbid,  to  intro- 
duce their  superstition  into  England.  I  speak  no 
more  than  what  I  have  heard  from  themselves, 
whilst  I  have  observed  their  frowardness  to  offer 
double  according  to  an  act  of  Parliament,  so  pro- 
viding, yea,  to  profess,  that  they  would  depart  with 
the  half  of  their  goods.  And  how  or  why  can  this 
frowardness  be  on  them,  but  in  the  hope  to  cast  the 
imputation  of  frowardness  upon  us,  and  so  to  them 
(that  which  the  Jesuit  will  not  suffer  them  to  be) 
loving  and  loyal  subjects  ?" 

These  remarks  are  ambiguous  enough,  yet,  so  far 
as  they  bear  on  the  general  argument,  they  are  in- 
disputable. The  Papists  were  on  the  watch,  and 
not  without  hope,  that  if  any  dispute  should  arise, 
they  would  be  able  to  re-establish  their  pdwer.  The 

1  Heylin,  p.  158. 


344  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

insolence  of  the  French  domestics  who  composed  the 
Queen's  household  was  well  known ;  and  though 
they  enjoyed  not  the  royal  favour,  nay,  though 
Charles,  while  he  was  disputing  with  his  own  sub- 
jects, was  secretly  encouraging  the  French  Hugo- 
nots,  the  Puritans  of  France,  they  still  conducted 
themselves  as  if  secure  of  protection.  But  we  must 
observe  another  part  of  Dr.  Sibthorpe's  sermon.  In 
one  place  he  asserts,  that  because  the  Prince,  who 
is  the  head,  chooses  his  court  and  council,  it  is 
therefore  his  duty  to  enact  and  to  direct  laws. 
This  he  endeavoured  to  prove  from  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  Eccles.  viii.  3,  4.  In  another  place  he 
observes,  "  If  Princes  command  any  thing  which 
subjects  may  not  perform,  because  it  is  against  the 
laws  of  God,  or  nature,  or  impossible,  yet  subjects 
are  bound  to  undergo  the  punishment,  without 
either  resisting,  railing,  or  reviling,  and  so  yield  a 
passive  obedience  where  they  cannot  exhibit  an 
active  one.  I  know  of  no  other  case  but  one  of 
those  three,  wherein  a  subject  can  excuse  himself 
with  passive  obedience :  but  in  all  other  he  is  bound 
to  active  obedience  V 

Dr.  Manwaring,  however,  went  farther  than  Dr. 
Sibthorpe.  In  two  sermons  which  he  preached, 
one  before  the  King  at  Oatlands,  and  another  to  his 
own  parishioners,  he  insisted,  "  that  the  King  is 
not  bound  to  observe  the  laws  of  the  realm  concern- 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i,  p.  422,  423.  Collier's 
Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  740. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  345 

ing  the  subject's  rights  and  liberties,  but  that  his 
royal  will  and  command  in  imposing  loans  and 
taxes,  though  without  the  consent  of  Parliament, 
ought  to  be  obeyed,  at  the  hazard  of  eternal  salva- 
tion ;  that  those  who  refused  to  comply  with  this 
loan,  transgressed  against  the  law  of  God,  the 
King's  supreme  authority,  and  were  guilty  of  im- 
piety, disloyalty,  and  rebellion ;  that  the  authority 
of  Parliament  is  not  necessary  for  the  raising  of  such 
supplies,  and  that  the  slow  proceedings  of  such 
great  assemblies  were  not  adapted  to  the  exigencies 
of  a  state,  but  would  rather  produce  impediments 
to  the  great  designs  of  Princes  V 

While  I  verily  believe  those  preachers  did  not  in- 
tend what  they  said  to  the  full  extent,  while  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  they  were  aware  of  the  ten- 
dency of  the  opinions  they  set  forth,  as  subversive 
of  part  of  the  constitution  of  this  kingdom,  and 
while  I  am  convinced  that  they  so  preached  from 
the  best  of  motives,  namely,  out  of  respect  to,  and 
regard  for,  their  sovereign,  and  as  mainly  endea- 
vouring to  counteract  the  seditious,  principles  which 
had  been  disseminated  throughout  the  nation ;  it 
must  be  admitted,  without  all  doubt,  that  this  was 
"  extravagant  divinity,"  as  Collier  justly  terms  it, 
"  subversive  of  the  constitution,  and  preaching 
directly  against  the  statute-book ;"  and  "  were  it 
pursued  through  all  its  consequences,  would  make 

1  Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  424.    Collier,  ut  sup.  p.  743.  Neal, 
vol.  ii.  p.  174t  175. 


346  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

Magna  Charta,  and  the  other  laws  for  securing 
property,  signify  little."  These  were  themes,  as 
Lord  Clarendon  well  remarks,  very  unfit  for  the 
place,  and  scandalous  for  the  persons  who  set  them 
forth,  seeing  that  they  "  presumed  to  determine 
matters  unconnected  with  their  profession,  and,  in 
online  ad  spiritualia,  gave  unto  Caesar  that  which 
did  not  belong  to  him."  It  is  extremely  dangerous 
to  define  with  exactness  the  royal  power,  inasmuch 
as  a  King  without  power,  and  entirely  under  the 
control  of  popular  laws  and  popular  assemblies,  is 
no  King,  and  without  any  prerogative  •  at  all,  in 
which  situation  were  he  placed,  as  undoubtedly 
Charles  I.  was,  there  would  be  no  barrier  to  the 
insolence  of  subjects.  I  mean  not  to  comprehend 
under  this  remark  the  nobles  of  the  land,  who  with 
the  private  men  of  rank  and  fortune,  are  the 
strength  of  a  populous  nation,  inasmuch  as  the  in- 
ferior orders  are  dependent  on  them  for  support. 
And  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  say  when 
subjects  may  rise  in  rebellion  against  their  Sove- 
reign, and  yet  preserve  their  virtue  and  integrity ; 
for  such  is  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind,  and 
more  especially  among  those  who,  the  general  po- 
pulation of  a  nation,  seldom  or  never  reason  from 
cause  to  effect,  that  were  such  opinions  to  be  disse- 
minated, or,  in  their  dissemination,  were  they  not  to 
be  restrained  by  the  salutary  arm  of  power,  a 
tyranny  would  be  established  as  intolerant  as  ever 
was  exercised  by  the  most  despotic  sovereign.  But 
while  those  men  ought  most  especially  to  beware 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  347 

who  allure  the  wrong-thinking,  and  deceive  the 
unthinking,  by  the  pleasing  theme  of  liberty,  there- 
by filling  them  with  turgid  and  fallacious  hopes,  and 
exalting  every  mechanic  and  village  politician  into 
a  judge  over  his  superiors,  it  must  unquestionably 
be  admitted,  that  if,  when  men  are  required  by  their 
rulers  to  do  things  which  are  against  "  the  laws  of 
God  or  nature/'  they  must  "  undergo  punishment 
for  not  doing  them,  without  either  resisting,  railing, 
or  reviling,  and  so  yield  a  passive  obedience  where 
they  cannot  yield  an  active  one,"  and  that,  too, 
under  the  "  penalty  of  eternal  damnation ;"  and  if 
the  King  is  not  bound,  according  to  Dr.  Manwaring, 
"  to  preserve  the  subjects  in  their  legal  rights  and 
liberties,"  where  is  the  security  of  the  subject,  where 
the  sacredness,  if  I  may  so  speak  of  his  property — 
of  property  which  he  may  have  truly  acquired  by 
the  "  sweat  of  his  brow,"  where,  in  short,  is  there 
protection  for  any  of  those  endearing  relations  which 
exist  between  man  and  man ;  where  is  there  prbtec- 
tion  for  life  itself  ?  It  was  so,  certainly,  in  a  degree, 
though  not  to  the  extent  of  the  notions  of  those  two 
clergymen,   in  the  earlier   period  of  the  English 
monarchy,  before  the  pusillanimous  John  of  Anjou 
ascended  the  throne ;  and  Doomsday  Book  is  a  suffi- 
cient attestation  of  the  iron  sway  of  the  sceptre  by 
William  the  Conqueror.     But  the  irrevocable  char- 
ter of  English  liberty,  which  John  was  compelled  to 
sign  by  the  illustrious  nobles  of  England,  who  dis- 
dained to  resign  the  land  of  their  fathers  to  abject- 
ness,  and  who  spurned  at  the  idea  of  selling  their 


348  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

birthright,  established  English  liberty  on  a  sure  and 
certain  vantage-ground,  from  which  it  cannot  be 
dislodged  unless  a  second  Puritan  rebellion,  the  re- 
sult of  crafty  sedition,  discontentment,  and  religious 
fanaticism,  overthrow  the  monarchy,  and  bury  the 
charter  of  liberty  beneath  its  mighty  ruins,  which 
will  support  the  tyranny  of  a  second  usurpation. 
And  I  would  here  assert  my  conviction,  in  thus 
commenting  on  the  dangerous  and  imprudent  opi- 
nions of  those  clergymen,,  that  it  is  not  among  the 
populace  of  the  nation,  or  the  people,  if  it  will  make 
me  better  understood,  that  we  are  to  look  for  the 
defenders  and  the  champions  of  liberty ;  but  if  that 
period  should  arrive,  when  the  reigning  monarch  shall 
attempt  to  crush  the  charter  of  our  rights,  it  is  first 
to  England's  peers  and  barons  that  we  must  look, 
who  will  not  hesitate  to  imitate  their  illustrious  an- 
cestors ;  and,  secondly,  to  tkeJBishops  of  the  Church, 
who  will  not  fail  to  follow  the  example  of  those  their 
venerable   predecessors,  whose  conduct  was  more 
beneficial  than  all  the  pretended   preservation  of 
rights  and  liberties  by  the  Puritan  faction ;  those 
noble  prelates,  for  whom  were  offered  the  united 
prayers  of  England,  who  received  the  deserved  con- 
gratulations of  their  countrymen,  and  taught  the 
ill-advised  son  of  Charles  I.  that  Popery  in  England 
had  fallen,  never,  we  trust,  to  rise  again. 

Dr.  Sibthorpe's  attempt  to  illustrate  the  chief 
magistrate's  unlimited  power  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, must  not  be  admitted ;  because  the  Jewish 
government  was  widely  different  from  the  English ; 


162G.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  349 

in  the  language  of  the  Church  historian,  "  to  argue 
from  Palestine  to  England,  and  make  the  Jewish 
constitution  a  standard  for  all  other  governments, 
is  slender  reasoning,  and  shews  that  the  preacher 
was  very  defective  either  in  his  honesty  or  his  under- 
standing." By  this  illustration  he,  in  fact,  fell  into 
the  great  error  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  and 
the  English  Puritans,  who  made  the  examples  of 
Old  Testament  history  their  models ;  who  were  ac- 
customed to  preach  from  those  portions  of  it,  which, 
they  well  knew,  would  inflame  the  zeal  of  the  people 
by  their  scriptural  allusions,  and  who  were  suffi- 
ciently active  in  finding  authority  for  all  that  they 
said  and  did,  in  the  historical  characters  of  the  Jew- 
ish Scriptures l.  Whereas,  the  Old  Testament  poli- 
tical economy  has  no  bearing  on  us  at  all ;  many  of 
the  actions  of  the  persons  recorded  therein  we  dare 
not  imitate  or  adduce  as  authorities ;  its  constitu- 
tion cannot  with  equal  facility  be  appreciated  by  us, 
who  live  in  another  age,  and  under  another  dispen- 
sation ;  and,  in  short,  many  of  the  facts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  like  some  of  those  of  the  New,  espe- 
cially in  so  far  as  the  practice  of  the  holy  apostles 
is  concerned,  in  their  intercourse  with  heathen  na- 
tions while  planting  the  Christian  Church,  are  not 
applicable  to  us  at  all,  and  are  delivered  not  for  our 
example,  but  for  our  instruction  and  edification. 

1  GoodalTs  Queen  Mary,  12mo.  vol.  i.  p.  247—250,  where 
the  reader  will  find  a  remarkable  illustration  in  the  conduct  of 
the  Scottish  Reformers. 


350  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

It  was,  in  short,  this  very  spirit  of  private  interpre- 
tation of  the  Scriptures,  which  ought  at  all  times  to 
be  avoided,  that  set  no  limits  to  the  religious  no- 
tions of  the  Puritans,  and  prompted  the  fanatics  of 
the  Commonwealth,  as  it  is  called,  to  change  that 
petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  "  Thy  kingdom  come," 
to  a  phraseology  more  agreeable  to  their  enthu- 
siasm, and,  therefore,  they  rendered  it,  "Thy  com- 
monwealth come  V 

1  The  above  is  a  true  anecdote  of  English  Puritanism,  and 
luckily  there  is  one  of  Scotch  Presbyterianism  on  the  same  sub- 
ject. Many  English  Bibles  were  printed  in  1640,  at  Amsterdam 
and.  Edinburgh,  (Holland  and  Scotland  were  the  same,  then,  in 
religion)  imported  into  England,  printed  on  wretched  paper,  and 
sold  at  low  prices,  "  little  margin,"  says  Fuller,  most  happily, 
"  yet  greater  than  the  care  of  the  corrector,  many  most  abomi- 
nable errata  being  passed  therein."  He  gives  one  instance,  in 
the  Scotch  new  version,  Jer.  iv.  17.  Speaking  of  the  whole 
commonwealth  of  Judah,  instead  of  "  because  she  hath  been 
rebellious  against  me,  saith  the  Lord,"  in  the  Bible  printed  at 
Edinburgh,  1637,  the  Scots  thought  proper  to  render  it,  "  be- 
cause she  hath  been  religious  against  me,  saith  the  Lord." 
This  was  during  the  monarchy,  but  they  could  not  endure  the 
idea  of  a  rebellious  commonwealth,  that  glorious  consummation 
they  had  in  prospect.  "  Many  complaints,"  says  Fuller,  "  were 
made,  especially  by  the  Company  of  Stationers,  against  these 
false  printed  Bibles,  arguing  great  advantage  to  the  Papists, 
but  nothing  was  therein  effected.  For  at  this  juncture  of  time 
came  in  the  Scotch  army,  and  invaded  the  northern  parts  of 
England.  What  secret  solicitations  invited  them  hither,  it  ig 
not  my  province  to  inquire.  Many  beheld  them  as  the  only 
physicians  of  the  distempered  state,  and  believed  that  they  gave 
not  their  patient  a  visit  on  pure  charity,  but  having  either  re- 
ceived or  being  well  promised  their  fee  hither."  Fuller's  Church 
History,  book  xi.  p.  171, 172. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  351 

To  discuss  Dr.  Manwaring's  assertions,  after  say- 
ing so  much,  would  be  needless,  as  the  perusal  of 
them  is  their  own  refutation.  But  let  us  see  what 
can  be  said  in  justification  of  the  motives  of  those 
clergymen  ;  that  being  the  only  certain  standard.  I 
have  already  dwelt  on  the  necessities  of  the  King,  on 
the  conduct  of  the  two  Parliaments,  and  the  King's 
peculiar  situation  with  foreign  powers.  Now,  though 
the  Puritan  historian  calls  Dr.  Sibthorpe  "  a  man  of 
mean  parts,  but  of  sordid  ambition,"  and  though 
Manwaring  was  in  his  opinion  little  better,  might 
not  their  assertions  arise  from  the  nature  of  their 
education,  arid  from  the  fact  of  their  not  being  po- 
liticians ?  For,  in  every  case,  the  domination  of  the 
multitude  ought  to  be  restrained ;  but,  if  we  are  to 
have  a  tyrant,  (I  use  the  word  in  its  'original  sense, 
not  in  its  present  acceptation)  rather  let  us  have 
one  than  hundreds  :  let  us  have  one  whose  princely 
birth  and  education  will  command  respect,  and  to 
whom  there  is  even  a  satisfaction  in  yielding,  than 
a  number  of  daring  and  upstart  demagogues,  who, 
using  the  word  liberty,  and  yet,  unable  to  define  it, 
choose  to  scoff  at  noble  birth,  because  they  them- 
selves are  too  basely  born.  Severe*  indeed,  is  the 
rule  of  such  political  philosophers.  But,  if  even 
the  appearance  of  grandeur,  not  to  say  royalty,  in 
distress  and  misfortune  will  at  times  move  the  heart 
of  the  sturdiest  republican,  much  more  will  it  ope- 
rate on  those  who  love  their  Sovereign,  even  though 
they  may  be  inclined  to  assign  him  a  greater  power 
than  the  constitution  warrants.  The  loyal  mem- 
7 


352  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

bers  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  that  age  of  en- 
thusiasm, dreaded  the  predominance  of  the  rabble, 
as  will,  indeed,  every  well-wisher  to  his  country  at 
any  period  ;  it  was,  therefore,  their  wish  to  restrain 
this  dangerous  fermentation  of  sedition,  and  if  those 
two  clergymen  went  to  extremes  on  the  one  hand, 
the  Puritans  were  not  one  whit  behind  them  on  the 
other.  They  were,  moreover,  scholars,  and  they 
needed  not  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  of  the 
popular  governments  of  Greece  and  Rome,  or  of 
those  tumultary  mobs  who  often  besieged  the  senate- 
house  of  Rome,  silenced  the  most  eloquent  orators, 
dismayed  the  bravest  warriors,  and  made  the  mo- 
mentary expression  of  their  excited  passions  the 
rule  and  decision  of  the  law l.  But  this  was  not 
all ;  much  higher  authority  could  they  quote  for  the 
doctrine  of  non-resistance,  even  in  Christian  times, 
and  by  Christian  men.  For,  setting  aside  the  doc- 
trine of  forbearance,  which  the  divine  Saviour  in- 
culcated, and  those  maxims  of  civil  obedience  even 
to  Pagan  princes,  and  in  reality  tyrants,  which  his 
holy  apostle  St.  Paul  enforced,  the  primitive  Chris* 
tians  practised  passive  obedience  to  the  very  letter, 
and  were  of  opinion,  as  the  Canon  of  our  Church 
expresses  it,  that  subjects  ought  not  to  take  arms 
against  their  Kings,  offensive  or  defensive,  under 
any  pretence  whatsoever,  not  even  for  religion, 
which,  of  all  things,  is  the  most  important  and  mo- 


1  Livy,  lib.  xxiii.  Cicero,  Oratio  pro  Milone.  i.    Tacit.  Vita 
Agric.  Sallust.  Cat.  Bell,  xlviii. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  353 

mentous  to  man.  It  would  be  needless  to  mention 
here  the  persecutions  and  martyrdoms  they  en- 
dured ;  that  they  became  the  ridicule  of  the  Greeks, 
renowned  for  their  worldly  wisdom ;  that  they  became 
the  prey  of  wild  beasts,  and  the  impious  sport  of 
men  whose  natures  were  riot  far  removed  from  that 
of  beasts,  in  the  Roman  amphitheatres  ;  that  they 
endured  deaths  which  make  humanity  shudder,  with 
the  most  magnanimous  fortitude  and  devotion.  I 
need  not  refer  to  the  often-repeated  testimony,  that 
they  were  the  best  soldiers  in  the  Roman  armies, 
serving  under  Pagan  commanders,  and  that  an  in- 
stance of  rebellion  by  them  is  utterly  unknown.  The 
Christian  Fathers  are  clear  upon  the  subject  of  non- 
resistance,  and  religiously  inculcated  it,  though,  if 
any  circumstances  could  warrant  the  contrary,  their 
own  were  not  the  most  favourable.  So  are  the 
ancient  philosophers.  Tacitus  declares,  that  good 
Emperors  are  to  be  wished  for ;  but  that,  whatever 
they  be,  they  are  to  receive  submission1.  Seneca 
was  of  the  same  opinion 2 ;  and  Cicero,  who  was 
himself  no  mean  patriot,  expressly  asserts,  that  no 
force  is  to  be  offered  against  a  man's  parents,  or  his 
country,  and  therefore,  as  has  been  well  remarked, 
not  against  his  Prince,  who  is  pater  patrice,  the 
father  of  his  country 3.  Aristotle,  as  quoted  by  the 

1  Tacit.  Hist.  Lib.  iv. 

2  Seneca,   Epist.  Ixxxiii.    "  Boni  expetendi,    qualescunque 
tolerandi." 

3  "  Nee  patri,    nee  patriae   vim  offerri  oportere."      Epist. 
Fam.  9.  lib.  i. 

VOL.  I.  A  a 


354  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

learned  Grotius !,  laid  it  down  as  an  axiom,  that 
though  the  magistrate  offered  violence,  no  violence 
was  to  be  used  in  return,  in  other  words,  that  it 
was  unlawful  to  resist ;  and  Plutarch  denounces 
those  who  dare  to  offer  violence  to  the  person  of  a 
King  2.  Sallust  says,  that  what  the  people  cannot 
do  with  impunity,  the  King  can  do,  as  belonging 
to  his  office.  To  the  same  purpose,  also,  many 
more  of  the  Roman  and  Greek  writers3,  among 

1  "  Apud  Sallustium  est,"  says  the  learned  Grotius,  "  Im- 
pune  quid  visfacere,  id  est  regem  esse.     Hinc,  ubique  majestas 
id  est  dignitas,   sive  populi,  sive  unius  qui  summo  fungitur  im- 
perio,  tot  legibus,  tot  pcenis  defenditur  quae  constare  non  potest 
si  maneat  resistendi  licentia.     Miles  qui  castigare  volenti  se 
centurioni  resisteret,   si  vitam  tenuit,  militiam  mutat;    si  ex 
industria  fregit,  vel  manum  centurioni  intulit,  capite  punitur. 
Et  apud  Aristotelem  est,  Ei  dp^rjv  exwv  Eirdra^ev  ov  del  O.VTL- 
irXrjyfjvai,  Si  magistratum  gerens  aliquem  verberavit,  ipse  rever- 
berandus  non  est."     Grotius,  De  Jure  Belli  ac  Pacis,  lib.  i.  cap. 
iv.  n.  2.     Amsterdam  edit.  1651. 

2  "  Nee  fas  nee  licitum  Regis  corpori  manus  inferre."  Plut. 
in  Vita  Agidis  et  Cleomenis. 

3  Many  other   passages  might  be   quoted,  both  from  the 
same  writers  and  from  others,  namely,   Livy,  Virgil,  Terence, 
&c. ;  and  among  the  Greeks,  Thucydides,  Xenophon  (Memo- 
rabilia),  Plato,    &c.     Tacitus   has   a  yet  stronger  remark— 
"  Principi  summum  rerum  arbitrium  Dii  dederunt,   subditis 
obsequii  gloria  relicta  est ;"  and  also,  "  Indigna  digna  habenda 
suntrex  quae  facit."    And  Seneca,  moreover,  "  JEquum  atque 
iniquum  regis  imperium  feras,"  which  two  lines,  says  Grotius, 
(ut  sup.)  are  taken  from  the  verse  of  Sophocles  : 

.  'AXV  ov  TroXiQ  ffrfjffeie,  TOV  fie  ^p>)  K\VE iv, 
Kcu  crfjuKpd  KCU  SiKaia  KOL  ravavrta. 

He  who  wishes  to  obtain  a  correct  and  complete  knowledge  of 
this  subject,  will  do  well  to  consult  and  to  study  Grotius  De  Jure 
Belli  et  Pacis. 


J626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  355 

whom,  let  it  be  observed,  and  especially  the  latter, 
existed  that  popular  form  of  government,  which  the 
modern  advocates  of  liberalism,  who  dogmatically 
set  forth  the  fallacious  adage,  that  the  voice  of  the 
people  is  the  voice  of  God,  so  much  admire,  but 
which  they  most  assuredly  do  not  understand ;  other- 
wise the  republicanism  of  Greece  and  Rome  would 
never  have  been  cited  as  affording  examples  of 
liberty  and  public  opinion,  because  they  afford  no 
specimens  of  these  at  all,  and  because  the  people 
were  actually  more  fettered  by  the  predominance  of 
the  rabble,  than  they  would  have  been  under  the 
most  complete  despotism1. 

1  I  may  refer  to  a  justly  popular  and  learned  work,  recently 
published,  respecting  the  state  of  public  opinion  among  the  an- 
cients. In  the  treatise  "  On  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Present 
State  of  Public  Opinion,"  by  W.  A.  Mackinnon,  Esq.  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  Greek  and  Roman  republics  afford  specimens  of 
free  and  unrestrained  public  opinion,  is  refuted  by  some  very 
convincing  propositions.  "  The  resolves  of  the  ancients  in  these 
republics,"  observes  Mr.  M.,  "  seem  often  to  have  been  deter- 
mined by  popular  clamour,  'which  was  more  likely  to  be  found 
among  them  than  public  opinion,"  (p.  19,  20.)  I  go  farther, 
however,  than  Mr.  M. ;  for  the  reader  must  not  suppose  that  I 
presume  to  identify  my  own  opinions  with  his  in  these  pages,  as 
that,  perhaps,  might  be  deemed  by  the  admirers  of  his  excellent 
treatise  no  compliment :  and  I  am  disposed  to  question,  whether 
there  was  any  thing  ever  "  resembling  public  opinion,"  at  any 
time  in  existence  in  those  republics,  always  excepting  the  philo- 
sophers, who,  as  I  have  stated  in  the  text,  were  too  often  awed 
into  submission.  For  a  few  proofs  of  this,  see  Xenoph.  Mem.  1 . 
Laertius,  ii.  §  98 — 102.  Anton,  et  Maxim.  Serm.  37.  Athen. 
lib.  x.  p.  422.  Mr.  M.  has  himself,  stated  the  cause — they 
wanted  "  proper  religious  feeling  :"  in  other  words,  their  theo- 
logy was  wretched. 

A   a   2 


356  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626'. 

And  here  I  would  remark,  for  it  appears  to  me 
that  this  important  subject  ought  not  to  be  passed 
over  lightly,  that  though  the  defenders  of  the  royal 
power,  as  independent  in  itself,  are  often  abused  by 
their  opponents  for  holding  an  alleged  maxim,  that 
"  the  King  can  do  no  wrong,"  which  maxim  the  libe- 
ralists  do  most  grievously  pervert  and  misunder- 
stand ;  yet  they  ought  to  be  silent  altogether  on  the 
subject,  because,  even  granting  for  a  moment  that  the 
maxim  is  absurd,  they  themselves  hold  one  much 
more  ridiculous,  namely,  the  one  above  quoted,  that 
"  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God."  This 
dogma,  so  unphilosophical  and  untrue,  not  to  say, 
subversive  of  civil  government,  and  unworthy  of 
him  who  pretends  to  the  dignity  of  a  statesman,  is 
continually  brought  forth  to  public  view  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  what  is  termed  moderation,  or,  as  they 
term  themselves,  the  defenders  of  the  people ;  and 
no  one  who  knows  any  thing  of  the  history  of  the 
present  day  can  be  ignorant  of  the  absurdities  to 
which  it  has  given  rise.  If  we  are  to  believe  them, 
the  people,  the profanum  vulgus,  are  everything; 
the  King  and  the  nobles  of  the  nation  are  dependent 
on  them  for  support,  and  therefore,  in  their  own  rank, 
nothing.  Instruct  the  people,  they  continually  ex- 
claim, that  is,  in  their  language,  do  not  make  them 
religious  or  good  men ;  do  not  initiate  them  in  the 
principles  of  Christianity,  (the  most  momentous  of 
all  human  concerns),  these  are  too  paltry,  and  pue- 
rile, and  unserviceable ;  but  make  them  philoso- 
phers, write  treatises  of  useful  knowledge  for  them, 
explain  to  them  the  principles  of  science,  and  then 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  357 

they  will  be  happy  :  we  shall  have  a  nation  of  phi- 
losophers and  legislators.  Now,  who  does  not  see 
the  folly  and  absurdity,  not  to  say,  impiety,  of  this 
bombast  ?  Who  does  not  see  that  it  will  be  at- 
tended with  the  very  worst  consequences ;  that  it 
will  engender  a  spirit  of  discontent  among  the  lower 
classes  at  their  condition,  and  that  the  merest  fool 
will  think  himself  perfectly  qualified  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  his  superiors  ?  I  admire  not  the  bliss  of 
ignorance,  but  ne  sutor  ultra  crepidam  ought  not 
to  be  forgotten.  Have  not  the  wisest  of  men, — men 
of  the  greatest  genius  and  profound  research,  spent 
long  and  laborious  lives  in  the  pursuit  of  one  single 
branch  of  science,  and  yet  left  it  comparatively  im- 
perfect, and  at  last  have  been  compelled  to  exclaim, 
with  the  great  master  of  antiquity,  that  at  best  they 
knew  nothing  ? 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  xthe  clergy  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  who  defended  the  government  have 
the  general  authority  of  antiquity  in  their  favour, 
and  we  shall  soon  see,  that  they  were  not  without 
the  authority  of  Scripture  and  the  primitive  Church. 
By  the  law  of  nature,  indeed,  as  Grotius  has  ob- 
served, men,  as  individuals,  have  a  right  to  resist 
injuries  inflicted  by  their  neighbours  ;  but  that  dif- 
fers widely  from  resisting  the  commands  of  govern- 
ment ]»  And,  therefore,  I  here  observe,  that  had 

1  "  Et  naturaliter  quidem,"  says  Grotius,  "  omnes  ad  arcendam 
a  se  injuriam  jus  habent  resistendi,  ut  supra  diximus.  Sed 
civili  societate  ad  tuendam  tranquillitatem  instituta,  statim 
civitati  jus  quoddam  majus  in  nos  et  nostra  nascitur,  quatenus 


358  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

there  been  no  Magna  Charta  in  this  country,  the 
doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  when  preached,  was 
not  an  outrage  on  the  subject's  natural  rights.  That 
very  doctrine,  which  excites  the  wrath  of  those  who 
affect  to  sneer  at  legitimacy,  is  laid  down  in  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,  if  it  be  allowable  to  refer  to  them ; 
but,  more  particularly,  it  is  laid  down  by  the  wisest 
men  of  antiquity,  even  by  those  who  were  them- 
selves no  mean  patriots 1.  To  come,  then,  to  the 
primitive  Church,  the  members  of  which  endured 
hardships  of  every  kind,  and  were,  in  very  truth, 
the  sport  of  their  pagan  rulers,  we  have  the  doc- 


ad  finem  ilium  id  necessarium  est.  Potest  igitur  civitas  jus 
illud  resistendi  promiscuum  publicse  pacis  et  ordinis  causa 
prohibere.  Et  quin  voluerit,  dubitandum  non  est,  cum  aliter 
non  posset  finem  suum  consequi.  Nam  si  maneat  promiscuum 
illud  resistendi  jus,  non  jam  civitas  erit,  sed  dissociata  multi- 
tude." Grotius,  De  Jure,  ut  sup. 

1  Let  us  only  observe  the  conduct  of  the  Romans,  for 
example,  in  their  government.  It  is  said  that  Romulus  was 
a  despot,  but  arbitrary  measures  were  necessary  in  the  infant 
state  of  Rome,  when  the  inhabitants  were  a  band  of  adventurers, 
who  had  no  ties  of  country  or  of  kindred  to  unite  them  toge- 
ther. The  age,  moreover,  was  early  in  the  history  of  improve- 
ment. But  no  sooner  had  the  Romans  overthrown  the  royal 
power,  than  they  were  doomed  to  the  tyranny  of  republicanism, 
and  hence  they  continually  changed  their  government,  till  Au- 
gustus assumed  the  imperial  purple.  Before  that  illustrious 
statesman,  treading  in  the  steps  of  his  no  less  illustrious  rela- 
tive, Julius  Caesar,  firmly  united  the  empire  in  his  own  person 
as  its  head,  and  deprived  the  Senate  of  all  opportunities  for 
faction,  what  a  melancholy  history  have  we  of  Roman  turbu- 
lence and  avidity  for  new  governments  ! 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  359 

trine  of  non-resistance  clearly  set  forth  by  Tertul- 
lian1:  and,  in  another  place,  speaking  of  certain 
insurrections  incited  by  Cassius,  Niger,  and  Albi- 
nus,  he  denies  that  any  Christians  were  concerned  in 
them,  because  resistance  was  against  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion2.  Constantine  the  Great,  although 
he  established  Christianity,  was  at  last  an  Arian, 
and  was  by  no  means  favourable  to  the  orthodox 
Catholics,  as  is  proved  by  his  treatment  of  St. 
Athanasius.  An  insurrection  was  stimulated  by 
one  Magnentius,  not  on  religious  but  on  political 
grounds,  with  which  St.  Athanasius  was  charged. 
But  the  Father  refuted  the  calumny,  and  shewed 
that  it  was  against  the  practice  of  the  Christian 
Church  \  The  armies  of  Julian  the  Apostate  were 
almost  entirely  composed  of  Christians,  but  they 
rebelled  not,  nor  refused  him  obedience,  except 
when  he  commanded  them  to  worship  idols :  yet 
they 'obeyed  Julian  not  from  want  of  power,  for  at 
his  death  those  soldiers  exclaimed,  that  they  were  all 
Christians  :  and  when  we  recollect  that  the  army  in 
those  days  was  the  great  strength  of  the  monarch, 
we  shall  at  once  see,  that,  had  Julian's  soldiers 
been  inclined,  they  could  easily  and  successfully  have 

1  Apol.  c.  87.  2  Tert.  ad  Scap.  c.  ii.  §  2. 

3  Kparei'rw  ^  a'XijS'eia  irapd  ctol,  KOI  p,f)  d<f>rjg  VTTOVOICIV  icard 
irdffrig  tKK\r]ffiag  yevto-fooc,  we  rotavra  fiovXevofj-ewv  KCLI  ypa- 
<f>6vTO)v  Tutv  Xpioriavwj',  Kal  juaXiora  r&v  eTnffKOTCbjv.  St.  Athan. 
Apolog.  ad  Constant.  Opera  studiosius  quam  antea  fuerunt, 
a  situ  vindicata,  &c.  Gr.  et  Lat.  Accessit  praeterea  Operi  Erasmi 
Roterodami  Paraclesis.  fol.  Argent.  1522. 


360  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 


rebelled l.  In  like  manner,  St.  Ambrose  declared 
to  Valentinian,  on  one  occasion,  that  the  Christians 
present  nothing  against  his  forces  but  their  prayers 
and  tears ;  "  These/'  said  that  holy  father,  "  are  my 
weapons :"  and  yet  we  know  well,  that,  had  he  been 
inclined,  he  was  in  a  favourable  situation  to  excite 
an  insurrection.  "  We  pray/'  said  he,  "  O  Au- 
gustus, we  do  not  fight  ."  With  respect  to  defen- 
sive arms,  the  opinions  of  the  primitive  Fathers  are 
equally  clear 3.  Bodinus,  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
affirms,  that  resistance  must  not  be  offered  to,  nor 
arms  taken  against,  a  Prince,  even  if  he  were 
impious  and  wicked 4 ;  and  the  illustrious  Grotius 

1  St.  Aug.  in  Psal.  124,  Opera  Omnia,  fol.  10  torn.  Basle. 
1540-3.  Desid.  Erasmi.  Historia  Ecclesiastica,  a  Socrate,  lib.  iii. 
cap.  xxii. 

2  St.  Ambros.  in  Orat.  Colloc.  inter  Epistolas  xxxii.  et  xxxiii. 
Basle  edit.  1538. 

3  St.    Cyprian.  Epist.  ad  Demet.      "  Inde  est  enim,  quod 
nemo  nostrum,  quando  apprehenditur,  reluctatur,  nee  adversus 
jnjustam    violentiam    vestram,    quamvis    nimius    et    copiosus 
noster  fit  populus,  ulciscitur."     Lactantius,  De  Divinis  Insti- 
tutionibus,  lib.  v.  c.  xxii.     St.  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Dei,  lib. 
xxii.  c.  6.  edit,  per  Joan.  Ludov.  Viven.  fol.  Bas.  1522,  atque, 
fait  Francois  par  Gent.  Hervet,  et  enrichy  de  plusieurs  Anno- 
tations, par  Franc,  de  Belle-Forest,  fol.  Par.  1570. 

4  Vide  Jean  Bodin.  Les  Six  Livres  de  la  Republique,  fol. 
Lyon.  1580,  etLat.  "  Nee  singulis  civibus,  nee  universis  fas  est 
summi  principis  vitam  famam  aut  fortunas  in  discrimen  vocare,  et 
si  omnium  scelerum,  &c.  De  Repub.  ab  autore  redditi,  fol.  Lug. 
1586,  c.  v.  p.  210,  211,  212.     Selecta  de  Vita  et  Scriptis  Jo. 
Bodini,  a  Jo.  Hen.  Schlegel,  4to.  1715.  et  Dissertatio  de  Jure 
suffragandi  Principurn  Imperil,  &c,  ab  eodem. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  361 

goes  still  farther,  for  he  declares  that  those  who 
hold  contrary  opinions  are  factious  men,  seeking 
for  and  courting  popularity,  time-servers  more  than 
defenders  of  liberty1.  And,  in  fine,  we  are  told  by 
another  writer,  that  he  is  truly  a  rebel  who  resists 
the  King  or  his  officers  in  things  appertaining  to 
the  state 2.  This  is  an  important  admission,  so  far 
as  Charles  I.  is  concerned,  for  it  must  be  recol- 
lected, that  the  measures  which  he  was  compelled 
to  adopt  by  his  fanatical  Parliaments,  and  those,  in 
particular,  on  which  I  am  now  commenting,  were 
not  for  his  own  advantage,  but  for  the  honour  and 
service  of  the  kingdom.  And  if  the  above  facts, 
which  seem  to  have  been  the  general  opinion  of 
men  in  every  age,  are  true,  it  will  not  be  difficult 

1  "  Inventi  sunt  nostro  saeculo  viri  eruditi  quidem  illi,  sed 
temporibus  et  locis   nimium  servientes,  qui  sibi  primum  (ita 
enim  credo)  deinde  aliis  persuaderent,  ea  quae  jam  dicta  sunt, 
locum  habere  in  privatis,  non  etiam  in  magistratibus  inferioribus, 
quibusjus  esse  putant  resistendi  injuriis  ejus,  cujus  summum 
est  imperium,  imo  et  peccare  eos,  ni  id  faciant,  quce  opinio 
admittenda  non  est.    Nam  omnis  facultas  gubernandi  quae  est  in 
magistratibus,    summae   potestati  ita   subjicitur,   ut    quicquid 
contra  voluntatem  summi  imperantis  faciant,  id  defectum  sit 
ea  facultate,  ac  proinde  pro  actu  privato  habendum. — Ac  mihi 
videntur  qui  contra  sentiunt,  talem   statum  rerum  inducere, 
qualem  antiqui  fabulantur,  in  coelo  fuisse  antequ'am  Majestas 
oriretur,  quo  tempore  aiunt  minores  Deos  Jovi  non  concessisse." 
Grotius,  ut  sup.  n.  6.  etiam  n.  8 — 14. 

2  Conradus,  Imperat.  de  Praestantia  et  Potestate,  lib.  i.  12. 
Hence,  St.  Augustine,  in  explaining  the  apostolic  injunction, 
says,  "  Necesse  est  propter  hanc  vitam  nos  subditos  esse  opor- 
tere,  non  resistentes  si  quid  illi  auferre  voluerint." 


362  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

to  form  an  opinion  of  those  factious  men,  who  op- 
posed their  Sovereign,  and  fatally  succeeded  in  over- 
throwing the  altar  and  the  throne. 

And  here  it  may  be  remarked,  that  these  doctrines 
are  not  only  built  on  the  universal  consent  of  all 
wise  men  of  old,  who  may,  perhaps,  be  charged  by 
some  as  having  imperfect  notions  of  political  rela- 
tionship, yet  who,  nevertheless,  had  nothing  to 
gain  by  such  arguments,  but  they  are,  if  we  are  to 
restrict  ourselves  to  Christian  times,  founded  on 
the  plain  and  obvious  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
For  though  I  do  not  go  so  far  as  to  say,  that  St. 
Paul  and  the  other  apostles  inculcated  political 
axioms,  yet  there  is  no  warrant  for  the  doctrine  of 
resistance  in  the  New  Testament.  For,  first,  our 
blessed  Saviour  himself  set  the  example,  by  rigidly 
conforming  in  all  things  to  the  political  govern- 
ment, as  well  as  to  the  ecclesiastical;  nor,  when 
he  was  arraigned  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Pilate,  conscious  as  he  was  of  innocence,  because 
he  was  without  sin,  did  he  offer  violence  even  to  his 
persecutors,  whose  infamy  is  the  more  flagrant  in 
proportion  as  the  Saviour's  conduct  is  considered. 
In  his  discourses  to  his  apostles,  he  enjoined  due 
submission  in  all  things  to  authority l ;  and  secondly, 

ptffc1*^*  -  '    .*-'••:     .  • .    <"  • :      .''- 

1  "  In  Novo  Fcedere,  Christus  praecipiens  dari  Csesari  quae 
Caesaris  sunt,  intelligi  voluit  a  suae  disciplines  sectatoribus  non 
minor  em,  si  non  majorem,  obedientiam  cum  patientia  (si  opus  sit) 
conjunctam  summis  potestatibus  deberi,  quam  ab  Hebraeis  re- 
gibus  Hebraeis  debebatur  :  quod  latius  exsequens  optimus  ejus 
interpres  Paulus  Apostolus,  officia  subditorum  late  describens  : 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  363 

those  apostles,  especially  St.  Paul,  enforced  the  in- 
junctions of  their  Divine  Master  in  still  stronger 
and  more  decisive  language l. 

I  have  thus  entered  a  little  into  the  merits  of  the 
famous  doctrine  of  non-resistance,  which  the  House 
of  Stuart  is  infamously  branded  with  enforcing,  and 
which  the  Clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  are  ignorantly  and  maliciously 
charged  by  sectaries  with  having  inculcated  from 
sinister  motives ;  to  shew  those  who  delight  in 
mere  assertions,  and  who  are  deluded  by  a  pre- 
tended liberality  and  patriotism,  that  the  Clergy  of 
the  Church  had  the  united  voice  of  antiquity  and 
of  the  primitive  Church  in  their  favour,  as  well  as 
the  authority  of  the  great  continental  writers  who 
flourished  in  that  and  the  preceding  centuries.  I 
do  not  say  that  some  of  the  positions  of  Sibthorpe 

inter  alia,  '  Qui  obsistit,'  inquit  *  potestati,  Dei  ordinationi 
obsistit :  turn  vero,  qui  obsistunt,  sibi  ipsis  condemnationem 
accipient.'  Addit  mox,  '  Dei  enim  minister  est  qui  potestate 
fungitur  tuo  bono.'  Deinde,  *  Quapropter  necesse  est  subjici, 
non  istam  propter  iram,  sed  et  propter  conscientiam.'  In  sub- 
jectione  includit  resistendi  necessitatem,  neque  earn  solum  quae 
ex  formidine  majoris  mali  oritur,  sed  quae  ex  ipso  sensu  officii 
nostri  manat,  neque  hominibus  tantum,  sed  et  Deo  nos  obligat. 
Rationes  addit  duas,  &c."  Grotius,  ut  sup.  n.  4. 

1  "  Nam  Apostolorum  princeps  subjectos  nos  esse  vult  aliter 
regi,  aliter  magistratibus  :  regi,  ut  supereminenti,  id  est,  sine  ulla 
exceptione,  praeter  ea  quae  Deus  directe  imperat,  qui  injuriae 
patientiam  probat,  non  interdicit :  magistratibus,  tanquam  mis- 
sis a  rege,  id  est,  potestatem  suam  a  rege  ducentibus.  Et  cum 
Paulus  omnem  animam  supremis  potestatibus  esse  subjectam 
vult,  etiam  magistratus  inferiores  inclusit."  Grotius,  ut  sup.  n.  6. 


364  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

and  Man  waring  are  generally  true,  and  I  have 
already  admitted  that  they  are  against  the  princi- 
ples of  the  British  constitution ;  nevertheless,  they 
are  agreeable,  in  the  abstract,  to  all  the  high  autho- 
rities before  referred  to ;  but,  were  not  even  one  of 
them  true,  still  they  are  justifiable,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  policy  to  restrain  the  wild  republicanism  of  the 
age,  which  was  threatening  so  much  danger  to  the 
state.  There  are  many  cases  on  which  our  modern 
liberalists  expatiate  eloquently,  in  which  there  is 
necessity  for  passive  obedience ;  because,  if  the  state 
rightly  demands  part  of  a  man's  property,  he  is  re- 
munerated by  protection  from  foreign  and  domestic 
enemies  :  if  the  Church  rightly  demands  it,  in  re- 
turn he  receives  instruction,  and,  through  the 
medium  of  the  clergy,  he  is  made  a  partaker  of  all 
the  benefits  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  So  that, 
if  passive  obedience  be  an  extreme,  it  is  a  much 
safer  one  than  resistance :  for  the  advocates  of  the 
latter  have  always  proceeded  to  something,  if  not 
rebellious,  at  least  seditious,  as  has  been  often  exem- 
plified in  England,  and  particularly  in  Scotland, 
where,  at  an  earlier  period  than  this,  John  Knox  and 
his  adherents,  stimulated  by  their  personal  hatred 
towards  Mary,  first  engendered  that  wild  enthu- 
siasm, which  afterwards  desolated  the  kingdom, 
presumed  to  subscribe  bonds,  otherwise  termed  by 
them  "  covenants,"  in  which  was  set  forth,  that,  if 
even  one  of  their  number  thought  himself  aggrieved, 
no  matter  what  cause  he  had  given,  or  the  extent 
of  his  fault,  the  rest  were  to  take  up  arms,  and  rebel 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  365 

against  the  government ;  and  this  John  Knox  and 
his  adherents  termed  zeal  in  defence  of  the  true 
religion,  and  a  care  for  their  "  oppressed  brethren  V 
The  authorities  which  I  have  adduced  will  not  be 
thought  lightly  of,  except  by  those  sectarian  enthu- 
siasts who  obstinately  look  with  contempt  on  all 
human  authority  whatsoever,  and  who,  acting  on 
the  pernicious  principle  which  they  have  adopted  in 
their  lucubrations  on  the  Scriptures,  namely,  private 
interpretation,  against  which  principle  a  protest 
cannot  be  too  often  made  in  these  pages,  choose 
rather  to  trust  to  the  impulses  of  their  own  con- 
ceited imaginations,  than  to  pay  homage  and  reve- 
rence to  the  names  of  those  men,  in  comparison  of 
whom  the  greatest  men  among  them  are  the  veriest 
pigmies,  and  whom,  in  fact,  a  secret  jealousy,  and  a 
despair  of  successful  rivalry,  with  an  utter  hopeless- 
ness of  refutation,  stimulate  to  treat  the  illustrious 
dead  with  opprobrium  and  contempt.  While,  how- 
ever, it  is  admitted,  that  the  preachers  of  whom  I 
have  lately  spoken  ought  not  to  have  introduced 
those  themes  into  the  pulpit ;  while,  perhaps,  the 
preaching  of  those  doctrines  at  this  time  was  impo- 
litic ;  these  concessions  do  not  bear  against  the  gene- 

1  Vide  these  bonds,  disgraceful  to  the  subscribers,  in  Knox's 
Historic,  as  they  were  subscribed  at  Ayr,  Sept.  4,  1562,  also 
Archbishop  Spottiswoode's  History.  Bishop  Keith's  History, 
folio.  Dr.  Gilbert  Stuart's  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  1.  and 
the  enlightened  remarks  upon  it  by  Dr.  George  Cook,  (Minister 
of  Laurence  kirk,)  in  his  History  of  the  Scottish  Reformation, 
vol.  ii. 


366  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

ral  facts  advocated  in  every  age.  And  because 
Charles  was  resolved  not  to  be  a  mere  nominal  King, 
but  to  be  King  in  reality,  he  has  been  branded  by 
enthusiasts  as  guilty  of  crimes,  as  being  a  tyrant, 
indulging  in  violent  notions  respecting  his  royal 
prerogative.  Private  hatred  and  malevolence  have 
indeed  assailed  the  character  of  this  injured  Mo- 
narch ;  they  have  misinterpreted  his  motives,  and 
traduced  his  venerated  name  ;  but  sound  sense  and 
true  piety  will  spurn  the  calumnies  of  a  faction, 
and  will  yet  bear  testimony  to  his  many  virtues, 
his  gentleness,  clemency,  religion,  and  grateful 
affection  towards  his  servants.  It  is  not  denied 
that  Charles  had  his  faults ;  that  at  times  he  was 
imprudent ;  and  a  superficial  knowledge  of  his  cha- 
racter may  induce  us  to  think  him  versatile  and 
equivocating :  but  it  will  be  found  that  his  motives 
were  laudable  even  when  mistaken,  and  that  in  his 
actions  he  was  under  the  control  of  circumstances, 
which,  placed  as  he  was,  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  foresee.  It  was  not  his  wish  to  become  a  tyrant 
over  his  people,  he  rather  wished  to  secure  their 
affection ;  but  the  opposition  of  a  faction  disturbed 
his  peace,  the  violence  of  enthusiasm  drove  him  to 
despair.  The  day,  I  trust,  is  not  far  distant  when 
justice  will  be  done  to  the  memory  of  this  injured 
Prince,  and  his  unfortunate  House. 

Dr\  Sibthorpe  resolved  to  print  his  sermon,  and 

having   dedicated  it  to  the  King,  he  applied  to 

Abbot,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  license  its 

publication.      This  the  Primate  very  unceremo- 

7 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  367 

niously  refused  to  do,  and  his  refusal  at  this  par- 
ticular period  gave  great  offence  to  the  Court.  For, 
though  he  cannot  be  condemned  for  refusing  to 
license  a  production  which  undeniably  was  against 
the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  yet  the  peculiar  situ- 
ation of  the  King,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  opposing 
faction,  ought  to  have  induced  him,  if  Sibthorpe 
was  resolved  on  its  publication,  to  license  it  after 
suggesting  a  few  alterations.  Abbot,  however,  was 
the  patron  of  the  faction,  and  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  he  would  sanction  the  sermon  of  a  man 
who  was  no  friend  to  the  Puritan  cause.  The  ser- 
mon was  submitted  to  Laud's  inspection,  and  after 
a  number  of  alterations  by  him,  it  was  licensed  by 
Dr.  George  Montaigne,  Bishop  of  London,  dedicated 
to  the  King  by  its  author,  and  published  under  the 
title  of  "  Apostolical  Obedience."  Dr.  Manwaring's 
two  sermons  were  also  published,  under  the  title  of 
"  Allegiance  and  Religion,"  and  we  shall  afterwards 
observe  the  persecution  which  their  author  encoun- 
tered on  that  account !.  • 

1  Dr.  Heylin,  (p.  158,  159.)  obviously  misled  by  Prynne, 
(Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  245.)  to  whom  he  indeed  refers,  seems 
to  think  that  Laud  had  the  principal  share  in  the  publication  of 
this  discourse.  But  this  is  not  the  case  ;  for,  though  Laud  cer- 
tainly revised  it,  he  had  no  concern  in  the  publication,  the  prin- 
cipal alterations  being  made  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  which 
that  Prelate  adopted  from  the  reasons  assigned  by  Archbishop 
Abbot  for  refusing  his  licence,  and  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Primate's  own  narrative,  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  part  i. 
p.  436—445,  where  his  reasons  are  detailed  at  length  ;  but,  it 
must  be  admitted,  that  in  this  instance  Abbot  was  unjustly 


368  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

Archbishop  Abbot  had  long  declined  in  the 
King's  favour.  The  infirmities  of  age  precluded 
him  from  attending  the  meetings  of  the  privy  coun- 
cil, and  his  leaning  towards  Puritanism  also  pro- 
duced in  him  a  dislike  to  associate  with  those  whom 
he  had  always  opposed.  His  refusal,  however,  to 
license  Sibthorpe's  sermon  prompted  the  Court  to 
take  decisive  measures,  and  it  was  injudiciously  re- 
solved to  punish  him  for  his  contumacy.  A  commission 
of  sequestration  was  accordingly  issued  against  him, 
and  the  administration  of  his  metropolitan  functions 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  Laud,  in  conjunction  with 

treated,  because  those  reasons  are,  on  the  whole,  not  only  pru- 
dent, but  even  unobjectionable.  Prynne  declares  that  Laud 
licensed  the  sermon,  which  he  knew  very  well  was  false,  for  Dr. 
Montaigne's  imprimatur  is  affixed  to  it,  (Rushworth,  vol.  i. 
p.  444.)  and  he  declares  also,  that  Sibthorpe  had  "sweetened 
his  sour  theme,"  by  "  cunningly  inserting  some  popular  pas- 
sages into  this  sermon  against  evil  counsellors,  the  toleration  of 
Papists,  Popery,  and  the  profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  which  the 
Bishop,  who  procured  this  sermon  of  his  to  be  printed,  expunged 
with  his  own  hand,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  original  written  copy 
found  in  his  study,  produced  at  the  Lords'  bar,  and  attested  by 
Master  Prynne."  He  then  enumerates  the  passages  which  he  says 
were  expunged,  in  his  usual  ill-arranged  and  verbose  manner. 
But  it  was  easy  for  "  Master  Prynne"  to  mutilate  Laud's  papers 
as  he  pleased,  and  we  know  that  he  did  do  so,  after  he  had  most 
illegally  taken  possession  of  them,  as  I  shall  shew  in  the  sequel ; 
and  to  produce  whatever  evidence  he  pleased  at  the  "Lords' bar." 
Laud  himself,  Diary,  p.  41,  merely  says,  that  he  had  seen  the 
Archbishop's  exceptions;  but  it  is  undeniable,  that  whatever 
passages  were  expunged,  were  not  done  by  Laud  ;  nor  are  we 
to  take  "  Master  Prynne's"  ipse  dixit  for  the  fact. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  369 

the  Bishops  of  London,  Durham,  Rochester,  and 
Oxford l. 

There  have  been  various  opinions  entertained 
respecting  the  true  cause  of  the  Archbishop's  dis- 
grace. His  conduct  had  made  him  unacceptable  to 
the  King,  though  it  had  secured  to  him  the  favour 
of  the  Puritans.  The  Church  historian  asserts,  that 
the  charge  of  irregularity,  which  the  Primate  had 
incurred  by  the  death  of  Lord  Zouch's  game-keeper 
was  revived,  and  that  the  proceedings  against  him 
were  generally  condemned  as  too  rigid  and  severe 2. 
Heylin,  on  the  other  hand,  asserts,  that  Abbot  was 
suspended  on  account  of  his  laxity  of  discipline. 
"The  King,"  says  he,  "could  not  but  see  by  the 
practices  and  proceedings  of  the  former  Parliament, 
to  what  a  prevalency  the  Puritans  had  attained  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  how  incompatible  that 
humour  was  with  the  regal  interest.  There  was  no 
need  to  tell  him  from  what  fountain  the  mischief 
came,  how  much  the  popularity  and  remiss  govern- 
ment of  Abbot  did  contribute  towards  it ;  therefore 


1  Diary,  p.  41.  The  names  of  the  other  Bishops  were  Dr. 
Montaigne,  Dr.  Neile,  Dr.  Buckeridge,  and  Dr.  Houson.  The 
Commission  is  inserted  in  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  740, 
Rush  worth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  431,  432,  433.  Prynne's 
Breviat,  p.  1 1 , 12.  Frankland's  Annals,  p.  21 1 . 

3  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  127,  128.  Prynne's 
Breviat,  p.  11.  who  maliciously  says,  that  the  commission  was 
"  Laud's  own  procurement,  in  malice  and  envy  against  Arch- 
bishop Abbot,  for  his  casual  homicide  of  the  keeper,  in  shooting 
at  a  buck,  many  years  after  the  fact  was  done." 

VOL.  I.  B   b. 


370  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

he  sequestered  him  from  his  metropolitan  jurisdic- 
tion V  While  others  again  have  held,  with  perhaps 
greater  truth,  that  the  real  cause  was  his  refusal  to 
license  Sibthorpe's  sermon 2. 

The  Archbishop  himself  was  of  the  last  opinion. 
Indeed,  the  irregularity  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
the  game-keeper  was  never  afterwards  remembered, 
and,  therefore,  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Church 
historian  fall  to  the  ground,  more  particularly  as 
in  the  commission  of  sequestration  there  is  no  no- 
tice taken  of  the  casual  homicide,  which  could  not 
have  been  mentioned,  because  Abbot  had  since  that 
event,  a  period  of  seven  years,  (besides  being  com- 
pletely cleared  of  the  charge,  both  by  the  judgment 
of  Laud  and  the  other  persons  appointed  to  inquire 
into  it,  and  by  a  dispensation  issued  under  the 
Great  Seal 3),  all  along  exercised  his  archiepiscopal 
functions 4.  The  commission  merely  sets  forth,  that 

1  Heylin's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  161. 

3  L'Estrange's  Reign  of  Charles  I.  p.  70.  72.    Collier,  vol.  ii. 
p.  741,  742.     Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  178. 

3  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  721. 

4  Another  error  of  the  Puritan  historian  must  here  be  cor- 
rected.    In  animadverting  on  Abbot's  sequestration,  he  says, 
"  his  Grace  had  a  royal  dispensation  to  shelter  him  from  the 
canons,  and  had  ever  since  exercised  his  jurisdiction  without 
interruption,   even  to  the  consecration  of  Laud  himself  to  a 
bishopric."     Now,  if  Neal  had  examined,  he  would  have  found, 
that,  in  his  haste  to  give  Abbot's  jurisdiction  greater  effect,  he 
overshot  the  mark ;  for  Laud  was  not  consecrated  by  Abbot,  as 
I  have  already  shewn,  but  in  the  Bishop  of  London's  chapel, 
along  with  the  bishops-elect  of  Salisbury  and  Exeter,  by  the 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  371 

"  the  Archbishop  cannot  at  this  present,  in  his  own 
person,  attend  to  the  services  which  are  otherwise 
proper  for  his  cognizance  and  jurisdiction  V  There 
is  no  specific  reason  assigned,  but  Abbot  knew  well 
the  cause ;  for  he  says  in  his  own  narrative,  "  Hi- 
therto I  have  declared  at  length  all  passages  con- 
cerning the  sermon,  and  I  have  not,  to  my  remem- 
brance, quitted  any  thing  worth  knowing.  I  am 
now,  in  the  second  place,  to  shew,  what  was  the 
issue  of  thus  not  allowing  the  worthy  and  learned 
treatise 2.  In  the  height  of  this  question,  I  privately 

Bishops  of  London,  Worcester,  Ely,  Oxford,  and  Llandaff,  be- 
cause the  bishops-elect,  though  they  cleared  Abbot  of  the  irre- 
gularity, still  scrupled  to  receive  consecration  from  him,  and  those 
five  prelates  were  appointed  as  a  commission  by  James  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  duty.  Bishop  Racket's  Life  of  Archbishop 
Williams,  p.  68.  v^-«; 

1  Collier  asks,  and  justly,    "  Why  could  he  not  attend  them  ? 
Because  his  Majesty  was  displeased,  and  would  not  permit  him." 
So,  forsooth,  does  Neal.       "  But  why  should  he  not  attend 
them?"  asks  the  Puritan  historian.     "  Because  his  Majesty  had 
commanded  him  to  retire,  for  refusing  to  license  Sibthorpe's 
sermon." 

2  The  Archbishop  here  talks  ironically,  for  in  one  place  he 
calls  it  "  highly  improper  and  absurd,  worthy  of  none  but  Dr. 
Sibthorpe,"  to  whom,  by  the  way,  he  bore  a  mortal  hatred ;  and 
in  another  place  he  calls  it  "  a  contemptible  treatise."     It  may 
not  be  improper  here  to  notice,  what  the  Archbishop  says  of  Sib- 
thorpe. «*  There  was  one  Sibthorpe,  who,  not  being  so  much  as 
Bachelor  of  Arts,  as  hath  been  credibly  reported  unto  me,  by 
means  of  Dr.  Pierce,  Dean  of  Peterborough,  Vice-chancellor  of 
Oxford,  did  get  to  be  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  Doctor. 
This  man  is  Vicar  of  Brackley,  in  Northamptonshire,  and  hath 
another  benefice  not  far  from  it  in  Bucks.     But  the  lustre  of  his 

B  b  2 


372  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

understood  from  a  friend  in  the  court,  that,  for  a 
punishment  upon  me,  it  was  resolved  that  I  should 
be  sent  away  to  Canterbury,  and  confined  there  V 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  offence  did  not  merit 
any  punishment;  but,  as  Collier  wisely  remarks, 
"  the  good  King  was  misdirected  into  these  rigours, 
and  believed  himself  in  the  right." 

Many  complaints,  however,  had  been  made  against 
the  Archbishop  at  court,  some  of  them  too  well 
founded,  and  he  was  made  aware  of  them  by  his 
friends.  He  retired  to  Croydon  before  his  usual 
time,  and  now  old  and  infirm,  anticipating  the 
effects  of  the  King's  displeasure.  On  the  5th  of 
July  he  was  visited  by  Lord  Conway,  the  Secretary 
of  State,  who  informed  him  that  it  was  the  King's 
pleasure  he  should  retire  to  Canterbury.  To  this 
he  objected,  because  he  said  that  he  had  at  that 
time  a  law-suit 'depending  in  that  city,  and  desired 
rather  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  retire  to  Ford, 
five  miles  from  Canterbury,  which  was  granted ; 
and  on  the  9th  of  October  the  commission  to  exer- 
cise his  episcopal  functions  was  issued  to  Laud  and 
the  other  bishops  before  mentioned.  He  did  not, 
however,  remain  long  in  his  seclusion,  for  the  King 
being  compelled  soon  afterwards  to  summon  a  Par- 
honours  did  accrue  from  his  being  the  son-in-law  of  Sir  John. 
Lamb,  Chancellor  of  Peterborough.  He  being  a  man  of  low 
fortune,  conceived  that  the  putting  his  sermon  in  print  might 
gain  favour  at  court,  and  raise  his  fortune  higher."  Rushworth, 
vol.  i.  p.  436. 

1  Hushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  445. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  373 

liament,  he  was  invited  to  Court  about  the  ensuing 
Christmas,  and  was  not  only  restored  to  his  metro- 
politan jurisdiction,  but  was  received  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  and  the  Earl  of  Dorset  at  Whitehall 
stairs,  as  he  quitted  his  barge  from  Lambeth  palace, 
by  whom  he  was  led  to  the  King,  and  having  kissed 
hands,  he  was  requested  to  attend  the  council  twice 
*a  week.  He  sat  in  the  ensuing  Parliament,  and 
was  not  interrupted  in  the  exercise  of  his  authority 
till  his  death.  And  that  there  were  no  farther  ex- 
ceptions taken  as  to  his  regularity,  is  evident  from 
the  circumstance,  that  he  consecrated  Dr.  Richard 
Montague,  (the  author  of  the  famous  book  already 
noticed,  who  had  shewn  him  no  slight  opposition,) 
Bishop  of  Chichester,  and  at  this  consecration  he 
was  assisted  by  Laud l. 

In  these  transactions,  however,  Laud  by  no  means 
escaped  the  insinuations  of  his  enemies,  and  there 
were  not  a  few  who  asserted,  that  he  was  impatient 
for  the  death  of  the  aged  Primate,  that  he  might 
succeed  in  the  metropolitan  see.  Fuller,  while  at 
the  same  time  he  confesses  that  the  Archbishop's 
own  contumacy  in  opposing  the  court  measures, 
made  him  the  more  obnoxious  to  his  enemies,  men- 
tions the  opinion,  first  sent  abroad,  doubtless,  by 
the  Puritan  faction,  that  "  the  blame  did  most  alight 
on  Bishop  Laud,  even  accounting  this  a  kind  of 
Filius  ante  diem,  &c. ;  as  if  not  content  to  succeed, 


1  Life  of  Archbishop  Williams,  p.  68,  Archbishop  Abbot's 
own  Narrative,  apud  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  rj.  445,  &c. 


374  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

he  endeavoured  to  supplant  him,  who  might  well 
have  suffered  his  decayed  old  age  to  have  died  in 
honour."  To  the  same  effect  Neal  asserts,  that 
"  Laud  was  desirous  to  step  into  the  archiepiscopal 
chair,  while  Abbot  was  yet  alive  V  But  there  is 
not  the  slightest  ground  for  the  insinuation  ;  for 
though  Laud  saw  and  lamented  Abbot's  unhappy 
primacy,  and  though  he  might  naturally  wish,  now 
that  he  was  certain  of  succeeding,  that  a  man  should 
be  removed  who  was  rendering  his  own  administra- 
tion more  difficult,  yet  it  is  undeniable  that  Laud  did 
no  more  than  the  other  bishops  in  the  case ;  and  the 
fact  on  which  his  enemies  insist  is  merely  the  slight 
notice  in  his  Diary,  that  Buckingham  had  intimated 
to  him  the  King's  intentions  on  Abbot's  decease. 
Abbot  himself  had  not  the  slightest  belief  in  this 
report,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  failed  to  gra- 
tify his  resentment  against  Laud,  by  recording  it. 
He  imputes  his  disgrace  solely  to  the  Duke  of  Buck- 

1 4I  here  correct  another  falsehood  of  Neal.  He  says, 
(p.  176.)  that  "  Abbot's  jurisdiction  was  put  into  the  hands  of 
five  bishops,  by  commission,  of  whom  Laud  was  the  chief."  I 
must  confess  that  the  original  document  is  more  worthy  of  credit 
than  Keal,  and  it  is  there  stated,  thrice  by  the  King,  that  he 
"  nominates,  authorizes,  and  appoints"  the  said  "  George,  Lord 
Bishop  of  London ;  Richard,  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham ;  John, 
Lord  Bishop  of  Rochester ;  John,  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  ;  and 
William,  Lord  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  or  any  four,  three,  or 
two  of  them,  to  do,  execute,  and  appoint,"  &c.  Collier,  vol.  ii. 
p.  741.  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  432,  433.  Even  Prynne,  Breviat, 
p.  12,  has  honesty  enough  for  once  not  to  mutilate  that  docu- 
ment. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  375 

ingham,  who  laid  hold  of  this  opportunity  to  mor- 
tify him,  because  he  had  not  evinced  towards  him 
due  respect :  "  it  being  brought  unto  the  Duke/' 
says  he,  "  it  cometh  into  his  head,  or  was  suggested 
to  him  by  some  malicious  person,  that  thereby  the 
Archbishop  might  be  put  to  some  remarkable 
strait1 :"  and  though  he  has  indulged  in  an  invec- 
tive against  Laud,  and  even  notices  his  intimacy 
with  Buckingham,  calling  him  his  "  inward  coun- 
sellor," yet  he  clearly  shews  that  it  was  not  till  after 
offence  had  been  taken  by  the  court,  till  after  he 
had  refused  his  licence,  that  Laud  took  any  active 
share ;  and  his  part  consisted  only  in  replies  to  some 
of  Abbot's  exceptions,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by 
the  Bishops  of  Durham,  Rochester,  and  Oxford 2. 
And  here  I  may  observe,  that  Abbot's  testimony 
sufficiently  exposes  the  malice  of  Prynne's  falsehood; 
for  whereas  that  enthusiast  asserts,  that  Laud  struck 
out  the  only  pious  passages  in  the  whole  sermon, 
it  is  clear,  that  if  any  passages  were  omitted,  the 
Bishop  of  London  has  the  merit  of  them,  for  Abbot 
himself  declares,  that  "when  the  approbation  of 
the  sermon  was  by  me  refused,  it  was  carried  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  who  gave  a  grave  and  stately 
allowance  for  it,  the  good  man  being  not  willing 
that  any  thing  should  stick,  which  was  sent  unto 
him  from  the  court,  as  appears  by  the  book  which 


1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  436.     Collier,  vol.  ii. 
p.  742. 

*  Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  440. 


376  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

is  commonly  called  the  Seven  Sacraments l,  which 
was  allowed  by  his  Lordship,  with  all  the  errors 
which,  since  that  time,  have  been  expunged."  How 
far  this  agrees  with  the  following  passage  from 
Prynne,  will  be  easily  seen  :  "  These  being  (Prynne 
enumerates  them)  the  only  pious,  orthodox  passages 
in  all  this  sermon,  against  Popery,  Papists,  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  evil  counsellors,  were  quite  crossed  out 
with  the  Bishop's  (Laud's)  own  hand,  who  altered 
and  added  many  things  in  it  for  the  worse,  and  all 
for  this  very  purpose,  that  the  people  might  not  take 


1  The  Archbishop  here  refers  to  a  book  written  by  Dr.  Co- 
zens, one  of  the  Prebendaries  of  Durham,  entitled  "  A  Collection 
of  Private  Devotions,  or,  the  House  of  Prayer,"  which,  it  is  suppos- 
ed, was  written  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  the  Countess  of  Denbigh, 
sister  to  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,who  was  beginning  to  waver 
in  her  attachment  to  the  Protestant  religion.  It  professed  to  be 
framed  agreeably  to  the  private  prayers  authorized  in  1560,  by 
Queen  Elizabeth.  It  retained  several  Popish  titles  to  the  dif- 
ferent divisions,  which  startled  the  enthusiasts  of  those  days, 
who  imagined  that  there  was  nothing  good  at  Rome,  but  that 
Papists  were  utterly  to  be  abhorred,  and  every  thing  which  be- 
longs to  them.  Dr.  Montaigne  licensed  it,  and  its  very  appear- 
ance excited  the  Puritan  fanaticism,  because  it  bore  resemblance 
to  some  of  the  Popish  effusions,  having  on  the  top  of  the  frontis- 
piece the  well-known  abbreviation  J.  H.-  S.  with  a  cross  upon 
it,  irradiated  by  the  sun,  and  supported  by  two  angels.  It 
was  attacked  by  Prynne,  and  Henry  Burton,  the  former  of 
whom  wrote  what  he  called  "  A  Brief  Survey  and  Censure  of 
Cozens  his  cozening  Devotions,  anno  1628,"  in  which  he  charged 
it  with  being  entirely  Popish.  The  book,  however,  we  are 
informed  by  Heylin,  got  exceedingly  popular,  notwithstanding 
all  the  Puritan  clamour.  Heylin,  p.  164, 165. 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  377 

notice  of  any  design  in  foreign  parts  to  extirpate 
the  Protestant  religion,  or  to  tolerate,  set  up  Po- 
pery, or  suspend  the  laws  against  it,  or  Papists, 
Priests,  and  Sabbath-breakers  at  home,  whereof 
these  clauses  gave  them  notice ;  which  this  Doctor 
(Sibthorpe)  bad  as  he  was,  foresaw  would  produce 
that  division  in  our  kingdom,  under  which  we  now 
experimentally  suffer,  threatening  utter  desolation 
to  us.  All  these  purgations  in  one  sermon  were 
made  by  this  pragmatical  prelate,  before  he  had  any 
legal  power  to  license  books  for  the  press  V 

In  the  midst  of  these  disputes  between  the  royal- 
ists and  the  factious  enthusiasts,  affairs  of  state 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  court.  The  intentions 
of  the  King  were  most  maliciously  misrepresented, 
and  it  was  said,  as  Prynne  asserts  in  the  above  ex- 
tract, that  there  was  an  intention  to  establish  the 
Popish  interest  in  Europe;  whereas  it  was  well 
known,  that  while  the  King  was  striving  to  restrain 
the  Puritan  faction  at  home,  he  was  openly  encou- 
raging the  Hugonots,  the  French  Puritans,  abroad ; 
nay,  it  was  notorious,  that  the  loan  which  the  King 
was  forced  to  raise,  was  for  the  defence  of  Protest- 
antism, to  assist  the  King  of  Denmark,  who  had 

1  Canterburie's  Doom,  p.  246.  In  another  place,  this  chari- 
table champion  of  conventicles  says,  "  But  since  Providence 
hath  brought  it  to  public  light,  we  conceive  it  will  be  a  very  good 
precedent  to  direct  your  Lordships'  judgment  in  the  sentence  of 
this  Haman,  this  arch-malefactor  against  our  state  and  re- 
ligion" It  is  at  times  amusing  to  perceive  the  fierceness  with 
which  this  enthusiast  maintains  his  notion  that  Laud  was  a 
Papist. 


378  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

brought  himself  into  trouble  by  opposing  the  King 
of  Spain,  and  defending  the  Palatinate l.  At 
the  instigation  of  Buckingham,  as  Lord  Clarendon 
alleges,  within  a  month  after  the  dissolution  of 
the  last  Parliament,  Charles  found  himself  en- 
gaged in  a  war  with  France,  and  the  Duke  went 
in  person  to  conduct  the  expedition  to  Rochelle, 
which  proved  unsuccessful,  more  from  the  conduct 
of  the  Parliament,  who  had  not  granted  the  King 
his  necessary  supplies,  than  from  any  deficiency  of 
courage  in  the  Duke 2.  The  spirit  of  discontent  was 


1  The  Puritan  historian  denies  this  in  his  usual  magisterial 
manner.     "  When  one  considers  the  characters  of  this  King  and 
his  ministry,  we  can  hardly  believe  that  this  could  be  the  real 
motive  for  the  war,  for  his  Majesty  and  his  whole  court  had  a 
mortal  aversion  to  the  French  Hugonots."     This,  however,  is 
not  the  fact,  and  though  it  was,  it  does  not  involve  the  King's 
sincerity.    The  Grand  Seignior  has  been  frequently  the  defender 
of  Christianity,  the  Pope  has  been  the  promoter  of  Protes- 
tantism, and  so,   at  certain  times,   have  been  the  French  and 
Spanish  monarchs.     He  then  goes  on  to  state,  "  Buckingham 
had  no  religion  at  all,  Weston  and  Conway  were  Catholics,  Laud 
and  Neile  thought  there  was  no  salvation  out  of  the  Church  of 
England.     How  then  can  it  be  supposed  that  they  should  make 
war  for  the  support  of  a  religion  for  which  they  had  the  utmost 
contempt?"  (vol. ii.  p.  178.)     Neal  would  have  done  well  to 
have  perused  Laud's  own  words,  before  he  penned  the  last 
clause.     "  The  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,"    says  that  great 
Prelate,  "  is  neither  Rome  nor  a  conventicle.    Out  of  that  there 
is  no  salvation,  I  candidly  confess  it ;  but  out  of  Rome  there  is, 
and  out  of  a  conventicle  too.     Salvation  is  not  shut  up  into  such 
a  narrow  conclave." 

2  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  vol.  i.  fpl.  edit. 

7 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  379 

excited  in  the  nation  by  the  exertions  of  the  Puritan 
leaders,  who  were  the  avowed  enemies  of  Bucking- 
ham. Nor  were  the  Duke's  endeavours  at  the  Isle  of 
Rhe,  of  which,  being  situated  over  against  Rochelle, 
he  was  anxious  to  obtain  possession,  as  thereby  he 
would  be  enabled  to  relieve  the  inhabitants  of  Ro- 
chelle  from  their  blockade,  attended  with  better 
success.  Five  thousand  men  were  lost  in  that  dis- 
astrous attempt,  the  English  forces  were  beaten, 
and  the  Duke  was  forced  to  retreat  to  his  vessels. 
The  murmurs  of  the  nation  were  now  louder  and 
more  significant,  and  Charles  himself  was  secretly 
convinced  that  they  were  just ;  for  it  was  evident, 
that  though  the  Duke's  personal  courage  was  well 
known,  he  was  more  adapted  for  the  court  than  the 
camp.  He  was  possessed  of  resources  sufficient, 
both  at  land  and  sea,  to  have  rendered  his  success 
certain,  had  he  followed  up  the  slight  advantage  he 
gained  at  his  first  landing,  by  instantly  attacking 
the  fort,  and  not  suffering  himself  to  be  amused  by 
the  enemy.  It  is  no  doubt  true,  as  the  Duke  urged 
in  his  own  defence,  that  he  had  acted  not  on  his  own 
responsibility,  but  by  the  advice  of  a  council  of  war, 
and  that  he  depended  on  the  Earl  of  Holland  ad- 
vancing with  a  supply  of  shipping  and  provisions, 
which,  had  he  obtained,  he  would  have  forced  the 
garrison  to  capitulate  by  a  blockade.  But  Holland 
excused  himself  by  declaring,  that  when  he  was 
ready  to  embark,  the  vessels  had  not  arrived  at 
Portsmouth,  and  that  the  winds  were  so  adverse 
when  he  was  ready  to  sail,  as  to  restrain  him  from 


380  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1620. 

putting  out  to  sea.  It  was  evident,  however,  that 
the  misfortune  was  great,  and  the  murmurs  of  the 
people  daily  increased.  "  The  mariners,"  says 
the  noble  historian,  "  came  in  crowds  to  Whitehall 
in  great  disorder  and  confusion,  crying  out  for  pay, 
and  hardly  to  be  appeased ;"  and  it  was  the  univer- 
sal demand  of  the  nation,  that  a  Parliament  should 
be  called l.  Even  before  the  affair  was  determined, 
the  most  seditious  rumours  were  in  circulation.  It 
was  declared  by  many,  that  matters  were  not  well 
conducted  at  the  Isle  of  Rhe  ;  that  there  must  be 
a  Parliament ;  that  some  must  be  sacrificed,  and 
Bishop  Laud  was  as  likely  as  any,  his  offence,  in  the 

1  Clarendon's  Hist.  vol.  i.  fol.  edit.  Rushworth's  Collections, 
vol.  i.  p.  426,  462—467.  Heylin,  p.  159,  160.  Laud's  Diary, 
p.  42.  Breviat,  p.  13.  Sir  H.  Wotton's  Life  of  Buckingham, 
p.  20.  Stafford's  Letters  and  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  510.  It 
is  remarkable,  however,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Rochelle,  who 
were  then  in  the  greatest  difficulties,  do  not  allege  any  misma- 
nagement on  the  part  of  the  Duke.  After  his  arrival  in  England, 
they  thanked  the  King,  by  their  deputies,  for  the  great  assist- 
ance the  Duke  had  rendered  to  them,  (Rush worth,  vol.  i. 
p.  467.)  which,  they  said,  would  have  been  greater,  had  the 
season  of  the  year  been  in  their  favour,  and  had  the  Duke  re- 
ceived his  supply  of  ammunition  and  provisions.  After  beseech- 
ing the  King  and  the  Privy  Council  to  take  their  circumstances 
into  consideration,  they  "  declare  that  they  are  still  resolved  to/ 
hold  out,  hoping  that  a  relief  would  yet  come  that  might  be  of 
advantage  to  them,  and  they  were  assured  thereof  by  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  at  his  departure,  that  he  would  once  more  come 
in  person  to  their  assistance."  Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  467. 
Lansdowne  MSS.  Plut.  Harleian  MSS.  Collection  of  State 
Papers,  ut  sup. 


16S6.J  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  381 

opinion  of  those  enthusiasts,  being  unpardonable, 
namely,  his  intimacy  with  the  Duke.  These  ac- 
cusations were  reported  to  Laud,  who  told  them  to 
the  King ;  but  the  Monarch  nobly  replied,  "  Let 
me  desire  you  not  to  trouble  yourself  with  any 
reports,  till  you  see  me  forsake  my  friends  V 

Laud,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  acted  with  his  accus- 
tomed dignity  and  diligence  in  the  discharge  of 
his  episcopal  duties,  sedulously  labouring  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Church.  On  the  29th  of  April  he  had 
been  made  a  privy  counsellor,  along  with  his  great 
friend  and  patron,  Bishop  Neile.  Here  Laud's 
conduct  reflects  on  him  distinguished  honour.  He 
was  not  ungrateful  to  that  excellent  prelate  for  the 
patronage  he  had  bestowed  on  him  in  early  life.  It 
was  through  him  that  he  had  been  recommended 
to  James  I.  Neile's  interest  with  the  King  had 
defeated  the  calumnies  of  Laud's  enemies,  and  now, 
when  Neile  had  not  a  few  in  array  against  himself, 
and  when,  had  Laud  been  a  worldly  prelate,  he 
might  have  been  troubled  at  the  thoughts  of  a 
jealous  rivalry ;  he  displayed  his  gratitude  by  his 
attention  to  his  venerable  patron,  who  had  always 
been  to  him  as  a  father  and  a  friend.  But  the  sta- 
bility of  the  Church  was  the  object  of  Laud's  con- 
stant solicitude ;  he  saw  it  to  be  the  bulwark  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation,  and  he  was  not  disposed  to 
indulge  the  petty  jealousies  of  self-interest,  or  to  be 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  462.  Diary,  p.  42.  Breviat,  p.  1 3. 
Well  would  it  have  been  for  Charles  had  he  remembered  this 
in  Strafford's  case. 


382  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

forgetful  of  obligations  previously  conferred.  On 
the  7th  of  June  he  attended  the  King  at  Ports- 
mouth, and  on  the  17th  he  received  the  promise  of 
the  bishopric  of  London. 

The  removal  of  Bishop  Laud  from  Bath  and 
Wells  to  London  was  what  Charles  had  long  con- 
templated; for  though  much  wealthier  Sees  than  that 
of  London  had  become,  or  were  likely  soon  to  be- 
come vacant,  there  was  none  which  required  a 
greater  degree  of  vigilance  and  efficient  govern- 
ment. The  See  of  London,  by  far  more  impor- 
tant, perhaps,  than  any  other,  demanded  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  greatest  wisdom  and  prudence  in 
its  management;  and  more  especially  because  its 
duties  are  more  laborious,  for,  besides  the  City 
parishes,  and  those  without  the  Walls,  its  jurisdic- 
tion extends  over  the  counties  of  Middlesex  and 
Essex,  part  of  Herefordshire,  comprehending  the 
Archdeaconry  of  St.  Alban's.  No  sinecure,  indeed, 
is  the  diocese  of  London,  and  no  diocese  in  the 
kingdom  has  greater  claims  to  be  divided.  In  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  that  measure  was  adopted;  a 
Bishop  of  Westminster  had  been  appointed  in  the 
thirty-second  year  of  that  monarch's  reign ;  and  by 
letters  patent,  bearing  date  Dec.  17,  1540,  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  was  erected  into  a  cathedral, 
Westminster  became  a  city,  the  county  of  Middle- 
sex, with  the  exception  of  Fulham,  where  is  the 
Bishop  of  London's  palace,  was  allotted  for  the  dio- 
cese, and  Dr.  Thomas  Thirlby,  the  first  and  only 
bishop,  was  consecrated  on  the  19th  of  December. 
That  prelate  occupied  the  new  diocese,  erected^  by 


1626.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  383 

the  dissolution  of  the  Abbey,  for  ten  years,  when  he 
was  translated  to  Norwich,  April  1,  1550  ;  and 
Edward  VI.  that  very  day,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,  again  annexed  the  new  diocese  to  that  of 
London,  and  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  not  long 
after  passed,  appointing  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
"  a  corporation  and  body  politic,"  to  consist  of  a 
dean  and  twelve  prebendaries,  under  the  name  of 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  the  Collegiate  Church  of 
St.  Peter,  Westminster  \  It  had  been  the  wish 
of  Cranmer,  that  venerable  father  of  the  Church  of 
England,  to  appropriate  a  great  part  of  the  reve- 
nues of  the  dissolved  abbeys  and  monasteries  for  the 
foundation  of  new  bishoprics,  as  well  as  of  schools, 
and  other  endowments ;  but  the  zeal  of  the  dis- 
senters in  gratifying  the  rapacity  of  Henry  VIII. 
frustrated  the  intentions  of  the  Church,  and  allowed 
him  to  fill  his  coffers  with  that  wealth,  which,  had 
it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Reformers,  as  the 
legitimate  successors  of  the  Popish  dignitaries,  would 
have  been  of  advantage  to  the  nation,  and  beneficial 
to  the  promotion  of  learning.  The  dioceses,  there- 
fore, continued,  excepting  some  new  foundations, 
as  they  were ;  and  few  can  estimate  the  severe  du- 
ties which  the  bishops  were  often  called  to  perform. 
But  in  the  nomination  of  Laud  to  the  See  of  Lon- 
don, Charles  had  a  great  object  in  view,  more  espe- 
cially in  his  contemplated  translations.  Dr.  Mon- 

1  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae,  folio,  London,  1716. 
p.  363. 


384  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1626. 

taigne  was  not  dead,  but  he,  though  otherwise  a 
good  man,  was  inactive  in  the  administration  of  his 
diocese.  As  Heylin  well  remarks,  the  King  natu- 
rally reckoned  London  to  be  "  the  retreat  and  recep- 
tacle of  the  grandees  of  the  Puritan  faction  :  the 
influence  which  it  had,  by  reason  of  its  wealth  and 
trading  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  that,  upon 
the  correspondence  and  conformity  thereof,  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  depended  :  no  better  way,  then, 
to  make  them  an  example  of  obedience  to  the  rest 
of  the  kingdom,  than  by  placing  over  them  a  bishop 
of  such  talents  and  power  as  they  should  not  be 
able  to  withstand,  or  anxious  to  offend." 

In  his  contemplated  changes  the  King  was  actu- 
ated solely  by  his  regard  for  the  Church.  Win- 
chester, then  vacant  by  the  death  of  that  excellent 
prelate,  Dr.  Launcelot  Andrews,  was  intended  for 
Dr.  Neile,  who  was  in  the  See  of  Durham  ;  but  the 
Court  necessities,  as  has  been  remarked,  urged  a 
delay  in  the  appointment,  which  gave  rise  to  reports 
injurious  to  the  King1.  But  in  the  December  of 

1  The  calumny  circulated  was,  that  the  King  intended  the  See 
for  a  younger  son  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  who  was  to  possess 
it  by  the  title  of  Administrator,  as  was  sometimes  done  on  the 
Continent.  Heylin,  p.  166.  Yet  Winchester  was  little  more 
than  a  year  and  a  half  vacant,  which  was  but  half  the  time  of  two 
former  periods  :  for  it  was  vacant  three  years  after  the  death  of 
Bishop  Walkelyne,  in  1097,  who  had  no  successor  till  Bishop 
William  Gifford  was  appointed  in  1100:  and  again,  after  the 
death  of  Henry  de  Blois,  brother  to  King  Stephen,  who  died  in 
1171,  it  was  vacant  for  the  like  period.  Le  Neve's  Fasti, 
p.  284. 


1627.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  385 

this  year  the  vacant  diocese  was  filled  up  by  Bishop 
Neile's  translation.  It  was  intended  to  remove  Dr. 
Montaigne  to  Durham,  but  that  prelate  himself  op- 
posed it,  not  liking  the  great  distance  from  court, 
at  which  he  had  been  long  accustomed  to  reside l. 
He  was,  however,  translated,  though  only  nomi- 
nally ;  for,  in  the  midst  of  these  delays,  Dr.  Toby 
Matthews,  Archbishop  of  York,  died  on  the  29th 
of  May,  1627,  at  Cawood  Castle,  in  which  archi- 
episcopal  see  he  had  sat  with  no  small  reputation 
since  the  year  1606 2.  This  dignity  was  of  more 

1  "  In  Montaigne's  hands,"  says  Heylin,  in  a  tone  of  exqui- 
site satire,  "  the  business  received  a  stop.    He  had  spent  a  great 
part  of  his  life  in  the  air  of  a  court,  as  Chaplain  to  Robert  Earl 
of  Salisbury,   Dean  of  Westminster,  (Le  Neve,  p.  364.)  and 
Bishop  Almoner,  and  had  lived  for  many  years  past  in  the  warm 
city  of  London.     To  remove  him  so  far  from  Court,  and  send 
him  into  those  cold  regions  of  the  north,  he  looked  upon  as  the 
worst  kind  of  banishment,  next  neighbour  to  a  civil  death.    But 
having  a  long  while  strived  in  vain,  and  understanding  that  his 
Majesty  was  not  well  pleased  with  his  delays,  he  began  to  set 
forward  on  that  journey,  with  this  proviso  notwithstanding,  that 
the  utmost  term  of  his  removal  should  be  from  London  House 
in  the  City  to  Durham  House  in  the  Strand." 

2  This  distinguished   Prelate,  whose   eldest  son,  Sir  Toby 
Matthews,  made  a  very  distinguished  figure  in  this  reign,  was 
descended  from  an  ancient  Welsh  family  named  Williams.     He 
was  born  at  Bristol,  in  1546,  educated  at  the  school  of  Wells, 
sent  to  Oxford  at  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  entered  student  of 
Christ  Church.     After  taking  his  degrees,  he  was  admitted  into 
holy  orders  by  the  famous  Dr.  Jewel,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and, 
in  1569,  when  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  chosen 
public  orator  in  the  University.     He  became  famous  for  his 
uncommon  eloquence  as  a  preacher.     He  was  very  soon  pre- 

VOL.  I.  C    C 


386  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1627. 

consequence  to  Dr.  Montaigne  than  the  diocese  of 
Durham,  and  he  now  evinced  as  much  anxiety  for 

ferred.  In  1570,  he  was  made  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and 
Archdeacon  of  Bath.  In  1572,  Prehend  of  Sarum,  President 
of  St.  John's  College,  and  Queen's  Chaplain,  and,  in  1576,  Dean 
of  Christ  Church.  In  1579,  he  became  Vice-chancellor  of  Ox- 
ford, and,  in  1583,  Precentor  of  Salisbury;  but  in  the  year 
following,  being  appointed  Dean  of  Durham,  he  resigned  the 
Precentorship  and  the  Deanery  of  Christ  Church.  He  left  the 
University,  though  he  had  powerful  friends  at  court,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Diocese  of  Durham,  where  he  was  so  diligent  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties,  that  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  preached 
from  the  pulpit  of  almost  every  town  in  the  county,  in  some 
places  repeatedly,  while  he  was  Dean,  nor  did  he  relax  in  his 
duties  when  he  became  Bishop  of  that  see  in  1595.  He  became 
Archbishop  of  York  in  1606,  and  from  that  time  till  his  death 
he  was  universally  respected.  His  monument  is  still  to  be  seen 
at  the  east  end  of  York  Minster.  He  preached  with  indefati- 
gable diligence  to  the  very  last,  whence  the  remark  of  Cook, 
vicar  of  Leeds,  in  Yorkshire,  in  his  "  Popish  Brags  Abated," 
that  "  Tobye  Matthewes,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  of  York, 
though  almost  80  years  of  age,  preacheth  more  sermons  in 
a  year,  than  you  can  prove  has  been  preached  by  all  your 
Popes  from  Gregory  the  Great  his  days."  Campian,  the  Jesuit, 
(Rationes  Decem,  &c.  printed  in  1581,  and  1583,  and  translated 
into  English  in  1687,)  says  of  him,  "  He  that  now  rules  in  your 
pulpits,  qui  nunc  dommatus  in  concionibus,  adding,  "  quern 
propter  bonas  artes  et  virtutis  semina  dileximus."  Notwith- 
standing his  frequent  public  preaching,  he  neglected  not  his 
other  episcopal  duties,  frequently  confirming  500  and  1000  per- 
sons at  a  time,  besides  his  visitations,  ordinations,  &c.  Camden 
says  of  him,  "  Theologus  prcestantissimus,  in  quo  doctrina  cum 
pietate,  ars  cum  natura,  certant"  and  Wood  observes  of  him, 
"  Infinitae  propemodum  lectionis  vir  librum  pene  nullum,  quern 
vel  scriptoris  fama  vel  ipsum  operis  argumentum  cornmendaret, 
mtactum  praetermisit,  memonam  quoque  tarn  tenacem  habuit,  ut 


16*8.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  387 

his  translation  thither,  as  he  had  before  shewn  reluc- 
tance to  quit  the  See  of  London.  He  was  suc- 
cessful in  attaining  his  wish,  though,  in  the  mean 
time,  some  small  delay  was  occasioned  in  Laud's 
translation  from  Bath  and  Wells.  Notwithstanding 
the  anxiety  which  Dr.  Montaigne  displayed  to  gain 
his  object,  it  appears  that  he  did  not  long  survive 
his  translation  to  York.  Such  is  the  vanity  of 
human  ambition  1 1 

These  arrangements,  however,  were  not  com- 
pleted for  some  time,  and  the  King's  necessities  at 
length  compelled  him  to  call  a  Parliament.  On 
the  29th  of  January,  1627*8,  a  resolution  was  passed 
by  the  Privy  Council  to  that  effect,  and  the  third 
Parliament  was  summoned  to  meet  on  the  17th  of 
March,  1627-8.  Preparatory  to  that  meeting,  the 
King  ordered  all  those  persons  to  be  set  at  liberty 
who  had  been  confined  for  non-compliance  with  the 
loan,  expecting  that  by  this  clemency  he  would  allay 

legend  sese  paucissima  obtulerint,  quae  vir,  si  quando  usus 
flagitaret,  confestim  proferret."  None  of  his  sermons  have  ap- 
peared in  print,  except  his  "  Concio  Apologetica  contra  Cam- 
pianum  in  Deut.  xxii.  7,"  printed  in  1581,  and  again  at  Oxford 
in  1628.  Wood,  Athen.  vol.  i.  col.  105.  109,  110.  428.  730, 
731.  Vicaria  Leodiensis,  p.  165.  167. 169,  170.  Camden's  Brit, 
in  Brig,  folio,  vol.  ii.  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  133. 
1  Dr.  Mountaigne  died  Oct.  24, 1628.  He  was  at  first  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  and  then  translated  to  London,  and  when  in  the 
latter  see,  he  was  wont  to  remark,  "  Lincoln  was,  London  is, 
and  York  shall  be,"  which  was  verified ;  "  through  which  sees," 
says  Fuller,  "  never  any  prelate  passed  so  methodically  as  him- 
self" Worthies  of  Yorkshire,  p.  199.  Peck's  Desiderata 
Curiosa,  lib.  xiv.  p.  523. 

C  C  2 


388  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1627. 

the  murmurs  of  the  Puritan  faction.  Whatever 
were  the  expectations  of  the  King,  however,  he  was 
disappointed,  and  the  measure  at  this  juncture  was 
impolitic,  the  clemency  misplaced  ;  for,  had  Charles 
kept  those  zealots  still  in  confinement,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  Parliament,  freed  from  their 
inflammatory  insinuations,  would  have  adopted  such 
measures  as  might  have  conciliated  the  court.  For 
these  men,  it  must  be  observed,  were  confined  not 
merely  for  refusing  compliance  with  the  loan,  but 
for  the  outrageous  insolence  which  they  had  exhi- 
bited, and  the  seditious  rumours  which  they  had 
industriously  circulated.  To  grant  them  their 
liberty,  while  in  prison  they  had  been  fortifying 
themselves  in  their  dogmatic  and  republican  oppo- 
sition, was,  in  effect,  to  give  them  permission  to 
renew  their  practices.  They  were  looked  upon  by 
the  faction  as  the  noblest  champions  of  liberty,  and 
they  were  not  slow  to  increase  their  popularity 
among  the  people,  by  recounting  the  sufferings 
which  they  pretended  to  have  endured.  So  that 
those  who  desired  it  were  returned  as  members  of 
the  Lower  House,  being  preferred  above  all  others  ; 
and,  actuated  by  revenge,  they  were  determined  to 
increase  their  opposition  to  the  King. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  notice  the  affairs  of  this 
Parliament,  perhaps  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  intro- 
ducing the  following  extract  from  Dr.  Heylin,  which 
is  interesting,  inasmuch  as  we  obtain  from  it  a  com- 
plete insight  into  Laud's  private  conduct.  The 
Bishop  has  recorded  in  his  Diary,  that  on  the  5th 


1627.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  389 

of  February  before  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament, 
as  he  went  with  the  King  to  Hampton  Court,  he 
strained  the  back  sinew  of  his  right  leg,  which  con- 
fined him  till  the  opening  of  the  Parliament.  Hey- 
lin,  as  has  been  already  observed,  was  contemporary 
with  Laud,  and  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him, 
having  been  born  in  the  year  1600 ;  and  he  survived 
the  Restoration,  dying  on  the  8th  of  May,  1662 l. 
"  During  the  time  of  the  Bishop's  confinement," 
says  that  learned  writer,  "  I  had  both  the  happiness 
of  being  taken  into  his  special  knowledge  of  me, 
and  the  opportunity  of  a  longer  conference  with  him 
than  I  could  otherwise  have  expeqted.  I  went  to 
present  my  service  to  him  as  he  was  preparing  for 
this  journey  (to  attend  the  King),  and  was  appointed 
to  attend  him  on  the  same  day  seven-night,  when  I 
might  presume  on  his  return.  Coming  precisely 
at  that  time,  I  heard  of  his  misfortune,  and  that  he 
kept  himself  to  his  chamber  ;  but  orders  had  been 
given  to  the  servants,  that  if  I  came,  he  should  be 
made  acquainted  with  it ;  which  being  done  accord- 
ingly, I  was  brought  into  his  chamber,  where  I  found 
him  sitting  in  a  chair,  with  his  lame  leg  resting  on 
a  pillow.  Commanding  that  no  person  should  come 
to  interrupt  him  till  he  called,  he  caused  me  to  sit 
down  by  him,  inquired  first  into  the  course  of  my 
studies,  which  he  well  approved  of,  exhorting  me  to 
continue  in  that  moderate  course  in  which  he  found 
me.  He  afterwards  discoursed  on  some  affairs  at 

1  Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa,  lib.  xiv.  p.  542. 


390  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1658. 

Oxford,  in  which  I  was  specially  concerned,  and  told 
me  thereupon  the  story  of  such  oppositions  as  he 
had  experienced  in  that  University  from  Archbishop 
Abbot  and  some  others ;  encouraged  me  not  to 
shrink,  if  I  had  already,  or  should  hereafter,  expe- 
rience the  same.  I  was  with  him  thus,  remotis 
arbitris,  almost  two  hours.  It  passed  towards 
twelve  o'clock,  and  then  he  knocked  for  his  servants 
to  come  unto  him.  He  caused  me  to  stay  dinner 
with  him,  and  used  me  with  no  small  respect,  which 
was  remarked  by  some  gentlemen ;  Elphinston,  one 
of  his  Majesty's  cup-bearers,  being  one  of  the  com- 
pany who  dined  with  him  V  This  incident  is  in- 
deed trivial  in  itself,  but  every  relick  of  a  great  man 
is  valuable,  and  ought  to  be  preserved  with  pious 
care. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  1627-8,  the  third  Parlia- 
ment of  Charles  assembled.  Oliver  Cromwell,  then 
a  person  of  no  distinction,  was  one  of  its  members, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  its  proceedings.  Laud 
preached  the  opening  sermon,  (the  sixth  in  his 
printed  volume,)  from  Ephes.  iv.  3.  "  Endeavouring 
to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 
This  sermon,  which  is  an  admirable  specimen  of  his 
impassioned  eloquence  and  solid  reasoning,  and 
which  abounds  in  advices  and  exhortations  truly 
apostolic, was  commanded  by  the  King  to  be  printed ; 
and  had  the  faction  in  the  House  of  Commons 
studied  it  as  well  as  they  did  the  effusions  of  their  own 

1  Heylin,  p.  167. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  391 

fanatical  teachers,  they  would  have  received  from  it 
important  lessons  of  duty.  But  they  had  a  deeply 
cherished  hatred  towards  the  man,  and,  therefore, 
they  concluded  that  "  no  good  thing  could  come 
out  of  Nazareth."  After  the  conclusion  of  the  ser- 
mon, Charles  opened  the  Parliament  in  a  speech 
from  the  throne,  addressed  to  both  Houses,  to  the 
following  effect : 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen.  These  times  are 
for  action;  wherefore,  for  example's  sake,  I  mean 
not  to  spend  much  time  in  words  ;  expecting  accord- 
ingly, that  your,  as  I  hope,  good  resolutions  will  be 
speedy,  not  spending  time  unnecessarily,  or,  as  I 
may  better  say,  dangerously  ;  for  tedious  consulta- 
tions at  this  time  are  as  hurtful  as  ill  regulations. 

"  I  am  sure  you  expect  from  me  to  know  both 
the  cause  of  your  meeting,  and  what  to  resolve  on. 
Yet  I  think  there  is  none  here,  but  knows  that 
common  danger  is  the  cause  of  this  Parliament,  and 
that  supply  at  this  time  is  the  chief  end  of  it ;  so 
that  I  need  but  point  out  to  you  what  to  do.  I  will 
use  but  few  persuasions.  For  if  to  maintain  your 
own  advice,  and  (as  now  the  case  standeth  by  the 
following  thereof,)  the  true  religion,  laws,  liberties 
of  the  state,  and  the  just  defence  of  our  true  friends 
and  allies,  be  not  sufficient,  no  eloquence  of  man  or 
angel  will  persuade. 

"  Only  let  me  remind  you,  that  my  duty  most  of 
all,  and  every  one  of  yours,  according  to  his  degree, 
is  to  seek  the  maintenance  of  this  Church  and  Conv 
mon wealth,  and  certainly  there  was  never  a  time  in 


392  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1627- 

which  this  duty  was  more  necessarily  required  than 
now.  «0£*fi 

"  I,  therefore,  judging  a  Parliament  to  be  the 
most  ancient,  speediest,  and  best  way  in  this  time 
of  common  danger,  to  give  such  supply  as  to  secure 
ourselves,  and  to  save  our  friends  from  imminent 
ruin,  have  called  you  together.  Every  man  must 
do  according  to  his  conscience.  Wherefore  if  you, 
(which  God  forbid)  should  not  do  your  duty,  which 
the  state  at  this  time  needs,  I  must  in  discharge  of 
my  conscience  use  those  other  means  which  God 
hath  put  into  my  hands,  to  save  that  which  the  folly 
of  particular  men  may  otherwise  hazard  to  lose. 
Take  not  this  as  a  threatening,  (for  I  scorn  to 
threaten  any  but  my  equals),  but  as  an  admonition 
from  him,  that  both  out  of  nature  and  duty  hath 
most  care  of  your  preservations  and  prosperities. 
And  I  hope,  though  I  thus  speak,  that  your  demea- 
nour at  this  time  will  be  such  as  shall  not  only  ap- 
prove your  former  counsels,  but  lay  on  me  such 
obligations  as  shall  tie  me  by  way  of  thankfulness 
to  meet  often  with  you.  For  be  assured,  that  no- 
thing can  be  more  pleasing  to  me  than  to  keep  a 
good  correspondence  with  you. 

"  I  will  only  add  one  thing  more,  and  then  leave 
the  Keeper  to  make  a  short  paraphrase  upon  the 
text  I  have  delivered  unto  you,  which  is,  to  remem- 
ber a  thing,  to  the  end  you  may  forget  it.  You 
may  imagine  I  come  here  with  a  doubt  of  good  suc- 
cess of  what  I  desire,  remembering  the  distractions 
at  the  last  meeting.  But  I  assure  you,  that  I  shall 


1627.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  393 

very  easily  and  gladly  forget  and  forgive  what  is 
past,  so  that  you  will  at  this  time  leave  the  former 
ways  of  distraction,  and  follow  the  counsel  lately 
given  you,  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace  V 

Such  is  the  speech  which  Charles  delivered  at  the 
opening  of  this  Parliament,  at  the  end  of  which  he 
refers  to  Laud's  masterly  sermon,  and  I  have  thought 
it  worthy  of  a  place  here,  as  it  is  a  comment  on  the 
proceedings  of  the  two  former  Parliaments,  and  as 
it  pourtrays  that  noble  independence  and  manly 
eloquence  for  which  that  Prince  was  distinguished. 
The  Lord  Keeper,  then,  in  turn,  addressed  the  two 
Houses,  and  brought  before  them  the  state  of  affairs 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  directed  their  attention 
to  the  political  intrigues  of  their  continental  enemies, 
and  concluded  by  advising  them  to  assist  the  King 
with  due  alacrity  in  the  present  emergency. 

But,  as  formerly,  this  was  of  little  use.  A  few  of 
the  leading  enthusiasts  had  succeeded  in  securing 
partisans,  some  of  them  factious  like  themselves, 
others  well  affected  indeed  towards  the  King,  but 
misled  by  their  false  representations.  They,  there- 
fore, resolved  to  manage  their  own  business  first, 
that  is,  to  have  their  own  way,  and  take  the  King 
into  their  own  hands.  It  first  moved  them  to  ap- 
point a  fast  day 2,  which  being  done,  (for  nothing 
could  be  done  without  making  such  a  display  of 

1  Lansdowne  MSS.   Parl.   Col,  1620—1628.  498.     Rush- 
worth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  476»  477. 

2  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  498,  499. 


394  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [162$. 

their  zeal,)  they  forthwith  entreated  the  House  of 
Lords,,  after  debating  concerning  their  liberties, 
(in  which  Sibthorpe  and  M anwaring  were  duly  no- 
ticed as  two  prating  sycophants,,)  to  unite  with  them 
in  a  petition  against  the  toleration  of  Papists.  This 
was  agreed  to,  and  on  the  31st  of  March  it  was  pre- 
sented to  the  King,  who,  while  he  commended  them 
for  their  zeal  in  religion,  still  pressed  upon  their 
consideration  the  affairs  of  state l.  It  behoved  them, 
however,  to  take  various  things  into  consideration 
before  they  thought  fit  to  agree  :  they  were  first  to 
ascertain  whether  they  were  able  to  vote  any  sup- 
plies, and  then  it  was  their  business  to  inquire  whe- 
ther they  were  to  be  considered  as  slaves  or  free- 
men, of  which  they  pretended  to  have  doubts,  on 
account  of  the  late  imprisonment  of  their  members. 
But,  after  a  variety  of  altercations,  they  resolved  to 
leave  the  King's  business  for  the  present,  that  is, 
those  state  affairs  on  which  they  were  professedly 
called  to  legislate,  and  to  proceed  in  their  own 
way. 

The  Commons  first  attacked  their  old  enemy  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  whom,  on  the  1 1th  of  June, 
they  voted  to  be  the  principal  cause  of  all  the  cala- 
mities brought  on  the  King  and  kingdom,  and  they 
accordingly  presented  a  remonstrance  of  grievances 
against  him2.  But,  on  the  16th  of  June,  the  King 


1  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  515. 

2  Rushworth,  vol.  i.p.  617.  619— 62G, 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  395 

issued  an  order,  that  the  process  preferred  against 
the  Duke  in  the  Star- Chamber  should  be  discharged, 
being  conscious  of  his  innocence,  and  the  subsequent 
prorogation  of  the  Parliament  delayed  the  effect  of 
the  remonstrance.  Having  thus  noticed  the  Duke, 
Dr.  Manwaring  was  not  forgotten,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  punish  him  for  his  two  sermons,  in  which 
hey  implicated  Laud,  who  had  licensed  them  for 
the  press.  After  various  harangues  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House,  among  whom  the  enthusiast 
Prynne  particularly  distinguished  himself,  Manwar- 
ing was  called  before  them ;  and  after  extorting  from 
him  an  humble  submission  and  "  acknowledgment 
of  the  many  errors  and  indiscretions  he  had  com- 
mitted," and  compelling  him  to  "  beg  pardon  of 
God,  the  King,  the  Honourable  House,  the  Church, 
and  the  Commonwealth  in  general,  and  those  wor- 
thy persons  adjudged  to  be  reflected  on  by  him  in 
particular,  for  these  great  errors  and  offences,"  they 
sentenced  him  to  be  imprisoned  during  their  plea- 
sure, to  pay  1000/.  to  the  King,  to  be  suspended 
from  preaching  for  three  years,  to  be  disabled  from 
holding  any  ecclesiastical  dignity,  to  be  prohibited 
ever  afterwards  from  preaching  at  court ;  and  ordered 
that  his  sermons,  being  worthy  to  be  burnt,  should 
be  called  in  by  proclamation,  committed  to  the 
flames,  and  never  again  printed  under  a  great 
penalty  l. 

From  this  sentence  it  will  be  seen  that  tine  friends 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  605.   Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  744.    Heylin, 
p.  170. 


396  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1627. 

of  liberty  were  by  no  means  lenient  in  their  deci- 
sions. But  the  sentence  is  liable  to  the  severest 
reprobation,  for  Manwaring  had  committed  no 
crime  against  the  State ;  and,  although  his  positions 
were  absurd,  they  were  rather  errors  of  judgment 
than  deliberate  faults.  His  offence  .did  not  eyen 
amount  to  petty  treason,  or  misprision  of  treason, 
seeing  that  these  are  only  to  be  understood  when 
committed  against  the  King's  per  son  and  autho<> 
rity :  hence,  therefore,  the  House  of  Commons 
had  no  right  to  sit  as  judges  in  this  case,  any  more 
than  to  inflict  the  fine  after  his  impeachment.  The 
fine  and  imprisonment,  if  found  guilty  of  crimes 
against  the  state,  were  all  that  they  had  a  right  to 
inflict  as  a  civil  court  of  legislature :  but  Manwar- 
ing was  amenable  first  to  the  King,  as  supreme 
ecclesiastical  ruler,  and  secondly  to  his  superiors  in 
the  Church,  if  he  had  taught  any  thing  contrary  to 
the  doctrine  of  that  Church,  whose  duty  and  right 
it  was  to  decide  whether  he  ought  to  be  suspended 
and  disabled  from  holding  any  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment. The  House  decided  on  more  than  they 
were  warranted,  or  had  a  right  to  do,  and,  there- 
fore, this  sentence,  as  well  as  the  compulsory  recan- 
tation, was  most  severe  and  unjust.  And  it  was, 
probably,  in  this  view  that  the  King  subsequently 
acted  ;  for  though  he  said  nothing  at  the  time,  he 
doubtless  judged  Manwaring  to  have  suffered  inno- 
cently in  his  cause,  and,  accordingly,  that  grateful 
Prince  not  only  remitted  his  chaplain's  fine,  but  he 
afterwards  promoted  him  to  the  living  of  Stamford 


1627.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  397 

Rivers,  in  Essex,  with  a  dispensation  to  hold  St. 
Giles's  in  the  Fields,  (vacant  by  the  promotion  of 
the  Commons'  old  enemy,  Montague,  to  the  see  of 
Chichester,)  then  to  the  Deanery  of  Worcester, 
and  some  time  after  to  the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's  *. 
On  the  following  day  Laud's  conduct  was  exa- 
mined, and,  after  deliberation,  "  by  God's  good- 
ness towards  me,"  says  he,  "  I  was  fully  cleared." 
He  was  not,  however,  ignorant  of  the  intentions  of 
his  enemies,  for  he  declared  that  this  Parliament 
sought  his  destruction,  which  was  prevented  by  its 
sudden  dissolution2.  Nevertheless,  though  they 
failed  to  involve  Laud  in  Manwaring's  affairs,  they 
had  still  another  resource.  In  the  remonstrance 
which  they  presented  to  the  King  against  Bucking- 
ham, one  part  of  it  concerned  religion,  in  which  they 
alleged  that  "  Dr.  Neile,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
and  Dr.  Laud,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  are 
justly  suspected  to  be  unsound  in  their  opinions  in 
that  way."  They  were,  in  short,  voted  to  be  fa- 
vourers of  Arminianism 3. 

1  Dr.  Sibthorpe,  the  other  incendiary,  according  to  the  cha- 
ritable idea  of  the  Puritan  historian  (vol.  ii.  p.  1 80.)  was  made 
prebendary  of  Peterborough,  and  rector  of  Burton  Latimer,  in 
Wiltshire. 

2  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  462. 

3  Diary,  p.  42,  43.     Heylin,  p.  170,  171.     Rushworth,  vol. 
i.  p.  621.     Whitelock's  Memorials,  edit.  1732.  p.  10.     On  this 
occasion,  Laud  has  made  the  following  entry.     "  The  same  day 
the  House  of  Commons  were  making  their  remonstrance  to 
the  King.     One  head  was  innovation  of  religion.     Therein  they 
named  my  lord  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  and  myself.     One  in 


398  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [16*8. 

It  would,  indeed,  have  been  desirable,  had  the 
English  House  of  Commons,  when  they  thus  exalted 
themselves  into  theological  doctors,  defined  what 
they  meant  by  Arminianism,  or,  at  least,  examined 
the  principles  and  opinions  of  those  whom  they 
called  Arminians,  before  they  condemned  them. 
Now,  by  their  own  admission,  were  there  no  other 
evidence,  they  did  not ;  and  what  are  we  to  think 
of  the  impeachments  preferred  against  the  royalists 
of  that  period,  when  their  enemies,  on  their  own 
shewing,  either  did  not,  or  could  not,  tell  why 
they  had  impeached  them  ?  It  is  easy  to  make  an 
assertion  ;  but  assertions  are  not  proofs :  hence,  if  a 
man  is  alleged  to  be  guilty,  it  must  first  be  ascer- 
tained what  he  has  done,  to  substantiate  the  charge. 
They  admitted  that  Buckingham  was  impeached 
without  a  cause,  that  is,  they  had  alleged  none  ;  and 
what  should  we  have  thought  of  Charles,  if  he 
had  dismissed  his  minister  to  gratify  the  whim  of  a 
faction  ?  That  Buckingham  was  imprudent  cannot 
be  denied ;  still,  his  enemies  knew  well  that  he  was 
not  destitute  of  talents,  and  his  imprudence  is  no 
warrant  for  them  to  calumniate  him.  If  they  made 
out  no  case  against  the  Duke,  he  could  not  be 
guilty,  because  the  law  presumes  a  man  innocent 
till  it  condemns  him ;  and  if  there  had  been  a  cause, 
why  not  impeach  for  high  crimes  and  misdemea- 

the  House  stood  up  and  said  :  now  we  have  named  these  persons, 
let  us  think  of  some  causes  why  we  did  it.  Sir  Edward  Coke 
answered,  Have  we  not  named  my  lord  of  Buckingham  without 
shewing  a  cause,  and  may  we  not  be  as  bold  with  them  ?" 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  399 

nours  in  the  House,  rather  than  remonstrate  with 
the  King  ?  On  the  very  same  principle  they  pro- 
ceeded with  Laud  and  Neile ;  they  charged  them 
with  something  which  they  could  not  define,  that 
is,  they  thought,  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  they 
were  about  the  business,  that  it  would  serve  their 
purpose  to  insert  the  names  of  the  two  Bishops. 
And  yet,  when  a  member  of  the  House  stood  up 
and  said,  that  now,  when  they  had  named  Laud 
and  Neile,  they  ought  to  think  of  the  cause  why 
they  had  been  named,  he  was  silenced  by  Sir 
Edward  Coke,  who  sagaciously  observed,  that 
"  since  my  Lord  of  Buckingham  had  been  im- 
peached without  alleging  any  reason,  could  not  the 
same  thing  be  done  in  the  case  of  the  two  Bishops  ?" 
It  is  not  difficult  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  wisdom 
of  those  senators. 

Convinced  that  this  folly,  to  say  the  least,  re- 
quires only  to  be  named  that  it  may  be  exposed,  I 
here  introduce  a  few  observations  respecting  the 
Puritans  and  the  Arminians.  I  have  already  stated 
that  a  profound  ignorance  existed  among  the 
former,  whether  wilful  or  casual  I  shall  not  in- 
quire, on  what  they  called  Arminianism.  This, 
indeed,  was  studiously  cherished  by  the  leading 
Calvinists,  who,  being  all  believers  in  Calvin's  in- 
spiration, imagined  that  it  was  necessary  to  carry 
their  researches  much  farther  than  the  "  Institu- 
tions," and  were  well  content  to  give  implicit  credit 
to  all  his  notions.  That  daring  and  abstruse  opinion 
which  Calvin  had  published  respecting  Christ's 


400  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1627. 

bodily  descent  into  hell,  and  his  suffering  the  pains 
of  the  damned  in  his  soul,  was  firmly  believed  by 
his  adherents  :  but  several  divines,  at  the  head  of 
whom  was  Laud,  having  attacked  this,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Genevan  Bible,  their  opinions  were 
not  forgotten.  In  fact,  the  notion  which  Vorstius 
broached,  that  God  had  a  body,  and  was  subject  to 
accidents  and  limitations,  was  hardly  worse  than 
this  opinion  of  Calvin  respecting  Christ's  descent 
into  hell ;  and  though  King  James  overstepped 
the  boundary  of  moderation,  when  he  styled  Vors- 
tius "  an  arch-heretic,  a  pest,  and  monster  of 
blasphemies1,"  yet  it  certainly  deserved  the  severest 
reprehension.  It  is  a  feature  of  the  Calvinists  to 
believe  all  others  in  error  ;  and  it  matters  not  whe- 
ther it  be  in  church-government  or  in  doctrine ; 
although,  respecting  the  former,  they  received  their 
share  of  opprobrium  from  their  sectarian  friends,  the 
Independents,  who  not  long  after  this  alleged,  that 
if  Papists  worshipped  the  beast,  and  Episcopalians 
the  image  of  the  beast,  Presbyterians  worshipped  its 
shadow.  Martin  Bocanus  went  too  far  when  he  im- 
prudently maintained,  that  the  fruits  of  Calvinism 
are  more  pernicious  than  atheism ;  though  Vitellius, 
a  Calvinist,  was  not  behind  when  he  falsely  asserted, 

1  Works  of  King  James,  p.  350.  352,  353.  356.  It  is  wor- 
thy of  remark,  that  James  was  actually  incited  to  persecute 
Vorstius  by  Archbishop  Abbot,  whom  the  Puritans  call  a  "  mild 
and  tolerant  prelate." — Abridgement  of  Brand's  Hist,  of  the  Re- 
formation of  the  Low  Countries,  8vo.  London,  1725,  vol.  ii. 
p.  318.  Sir  Ralph  Winwood's  Memorials,  vol.iii.  p.  296. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  401 

that  the  purpose  of  Arminianism  was  to  introduce  a 
subtle  atheism  into  the  Church.  So  dogmatic,  how- 
ever, was  Calvin  in  his  notions  on  election  and  other 
subtleties,  that  he  undertook  to  reform  the  Luther- 
ans, for  which  officiousness  he  was  bitterly  attacked 
by  Giles  Hunnius,  a  famous  Lutheran  divine,  and 
Professor  of  Divinity  at  Marpurg,  who  charged  him 
with  Nestorianism,  Judaism,  Mahometanism,  and 
Atheism.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  Calvin's  opinions 
on  polity  were  unknown  in  the  Church  before  his  day ; 
and  his  notions  concerning  election  and  reprobation 
have  a  precedent  only  in  the  works  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, who  in  some  of  his  writings  has  advanced  posi- 
tions not  dissimilar,  though  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  Father  was  then  engaged  in  a  hot  dispute 
with  the  Manicheans,  whom  he  violently  opposed, 
for  in  other  parts  of  his  writings  he  expresses  the 
unanimous  belief  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Though  I  am  perfectly  justified  in  making  a 
digression  on  this  subject  at  present,  because  I  am 
commenting  on  the  life  of  a  man  whose  only  crime 
consisted  in  his  being  an  Anti-Calvinist,  that  is,  a 
believer  in  the  old  and  scriptural  doctrine  of  a  full 
and  free  salvation  to  every  individual  of  the  human 
race  who  chooses  to  accept  of  it,  in  opposition  to 
Calvin's  notions  of  predestination  and  unconditional 
election,  yet  I  shall  refrain  from  entering  minutely 
into  a  theological  discussion,  reserving  that  for  ano- 
ther occasion.  I  stated  that  a  deplorable  ignorance 
existed  on  Arminianism,  as  they  chose  to  call  it, 
among  all  the  Puritans,  and  more  especially  in  the 
VOL.  i.  D  d 


402  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628;. 

House  of  Commons,  among  the  members  of  which 
fanaticism  was  making  rapid  progress.  Nor  are 
there  wanting  specimens  of  this  folly,  which  I  shall 
adduce  in  another  place,  when  I  come  to  detail  the 
future  proceedings  of  the  Parliament.  But  the  con- 
duct of  the  Parliament  ought  not  to  be  passed  over 
in  silence.  By  crafty  artifice  they  invariably  coupled 
Arminianism  with  Popery  ;  and  though  they  must 
have  known,  before  they  delivered  their  opinions, 
that  the  former  was  just  as  irreconcilable  to  Popery 
as  their  own  Calvinism,  yet  it  furnished  them  with 
a  convenient  occasion  to  rail  against  the  Church, 
and  against  Laud  and  others,  its  resolute  defenders. 
Moreover,  as  the  populace  seldom  reason,  it  was  no 
difficult  matter  for  those  zealots  to  inflame  their 
passions  by  misrepresentations  of  what  they  them- 
selves did  not  understand,  and  secure  partisans  by 
their  delusive  speeches  about  liberty  and  the  alleged 
tyranny  of  the  court. 

The  Church  of  England,  as  I  have  before  ob- 
served, is  neither  Calvinistic  nor  Arminian,  so  far 
as  these  are  human  systems ;  nor  did  that  Church, 
in  the  persons  of  its  venerable  Reformers,  first 
attach  itself  to  the  great  name  of  any  individual,  and 
then  endeavour  to  reconcile  his  opinions  with  the 
holy  canon  of  Scripture.  This  was  the  case  with 
certain  other  communions,  but  it  was  not  so  with 
the  Church  of  England.  Had  it  done  so,  what  cause 
has  it  not  for  boasting,  and  where  is  the  vantage 
ground  of  any  other  religious  body  ?  What  illus- 
trious names  adorn  the  annals  of  the  Church  of 


J628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  403 

England !  names  which  will  bear  a  comparison  with 
the  most  eminent  Fathers  of  the  primitive  Church ; 
men  who  were  as  much  superior  to  Calvin,  learned 
though  he  was,  as  he  in  turn  was  superior  to  his  Scot- 
tish disciples.  Where  is  there  any  church  or  sect, 
not  even  excepting  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  can 
rival  the  Church  of  England  in  the  literary  reputa- 
tion of  its  sons  ?  There  is  something,  indeed,  in 
its  very  constitution  which  encourages  this  nohle 
emulation,  and  to  this  hour  it  sustains  its  celebrity. 
And  those  men  were  not  "  straitened  in  their  bowels 
as  to  the  extent  of  Christ's  redemption."  Great  as 
they  unquestionably  were,  they  had  too  humble  an 
opinion  of  themselves,  as  at  best  but  unprofitable 
servants,  to  entertain  a  single  harsh  and  limited 
thought  of  the  love  of  God.  If,  as  the  Puritans 
pretended,  the  Articles  of  the  Church,  especially 
the  Seventeenth,  are  Calvinistic,  why  did  they  evince 
such  factious  restlessness  to  make  them  appear  so  ? 
The  confession  of  no  Church  has  given  rise  to  so 
many  disputes  as  that  of  the  Church  of  England;  its 
Articles  have  been  wrested  from  their  literal  and 
grammatical  sense,  to  support  the  opinions  of  a 
party.  Now,  who  thinks  of  asserting  that  the  Scot- 
tish Confession  of  Faith  is  Arminian  ?  Who  ever 
alleged,  that  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms, 
received  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  originally 
put  forth  by  the  Westminster  Calvinistic  Assembly, 
are  not  Calvinistic  ?  The  attempt  has  never  been 
made,  because  the  melancholy  doctrine  is  there 
elicited  in  terms  too  plain,  (I  say  melancholy,  indeed, 

Dd2 


404-  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

if  true),  that  "  God  hath  from  eternity  elected  some 
to  everlasting  life,"  and  doomed  others  to  everlast- 
ing death,  not  from  any  good  or  bad  works  of 
theirs,  but  merely  "for  the  praise  of  his  glorious 
grace"  Is  this  a  reason  agreeable  to  our  notions 
as  rational  beings  of  God  and  his  heavenly  revela- 
tion ?  and  yet  religion,  or  rather  Christianity,  is 
addressed  to  man's  reason,  not  to  his  imagination  or 
his  senses  ;  it  is  not  a  mere  speculative  or  visionary 
subject,  but  it  must  be  reduced  to  practice,  and 
practice  is  just  the  effect  of  which  the  exercise 
of  our  faculties  is  the  cause.  Religion  without 
works  is  a  contradiction  in  terms ;  its  very  existence 
is  impossible.  Is  a  man  doomed  to  everlasting 
damnation  before  he  is  born,  nay,  from  all  eternity  ? 
And  is  such  a  man  born  in  a  Christian  country,  and 
called  on  to  repent  as  a  miserable  sinner  ?  How 
can  he  accept  the  call,  since  he  is  restrained  by  a 
religious  necessity  ?  Is  he  able  to  contend  with  God, 
or  is  God  a  man,  that  he  should  change  his  eternal 
decree  ?  Or,  if  Calvinism  be  true,  is  it  not  a  mere 
mockery  of  a  rational  being  and  the  possessor  of  an 
immortal  soul  (I  speak  it  with  awe)  to  pass  a  decree 
that  he  cannot  be  saved,  yet  to  call  him  to  repent- 
ance, and  to  condemn  him  for  what  he  could  not 
help  ?  What  can  man  do  ?  The  decree  of  God 
must  take  effect,  and,  therefore,  he  must  take  his 
chance  of  being  either  elected  or  reprobated.  But 
how  different  is  the  real  state  of  the  case  ?  Where 
would  be  the  efficacy  of  the  holy  sacrament  of  Bap- 
tism, that  sign  and  seal  of  regeneration,  a  new  life, 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  405 

and  an  engrafting  into  Christ's  body,  without  which 
sacrament  I  will  not,  indeed,  say  no  human  being 
can  be  saved,  whether  infant  or  adult ;  but  by  which 
holy  sacrament  all  baptized  infants  are  saved,  and 
all  adults  who  fulfil,  in  the  years  of  reason,  their 
baptismal  vows  ?  or  are  we  to  entertain  that  most 
degrading  thought,  that  this  holy  sacrament  is  no- 
thing more  than  a  mere  rite,  a  formal  ceremony  ? 
The  thought,  I  confess,  appears  to  me  to  border 
on  profaneness.  And  then,  when  we  come  to  the 
Scriptures,  how  discordant  are  they  with  the  limita- 
tions of  Calvinism !  There  we  are  indeed  told  the 
important  truth,  that  believers  may  finally  fall ; 
there  we  are  told  in  every  page,  that  Christ,  as  the 
venerable  Latimer  expresses  it,  shed  as  much  blood 
for  Judas  as  he  did  for  St.  Paul ;  there  we  have 
revelations  of  the  boundless  mercy  of  God ;  there 
we  are  commanded  to  address  God  as  our  Father ; 
there,  in  short,  we  are  commanded  to  believe  and 
obey  the  gospel,  being  assured  that  they  who  come 
unto  God  wilr  not  come  in  vain. 

In  these  observations  I  have  not  adduced  argu- 
ments from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  because  the  subject 
has  been  often  discussed,  and  because  I  wish  to 
avoid  a  theological  disputation,  making  my  remarks 
to  bear  principally  on  the  system,  and  the  conduct 
of  the  Puritans,  in  violently  condemning  Bishops 
Laud  and  Neile.  Now,  it  is  well  known,  that 
Calvinism  was  never  imagined  to  be  the  religion  of 
England  before  the  return  of  those  exiles  whom  the 
Marian  persecution  had  forced  from  their  country ; 


406  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that  almost  all  those  who 
afterwards  held  situations  in  the  Church,  and  in- 
troduced the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  were  those  who 
had  resided  during  that  persecution  at  Geneva,  and 
returned  with  a  warm  admiration  of  Calvin's  sys- 
tem. But  had  the  Articles  been  Calvinistic,  why 
make  vigorous  attempts  to  make  them  appear  so, 
since  they  speak  for  themselves  ?  and  yet  I  need  not 
remind  the  reader  of  the  Lambeth  Articles,  of  Cart- 
wright's  turbulence,  and  of  the  insidious  mal-prac- 
tices  of  the  Puritan  faction  in  the  Universities, 
during  the  latter  years  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  whole 
of  James'  reign,  as  the  Puritans  themselves  evinced 
at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference.  These  discus- 
sions, indeed,  I  must  at  present  avoid.  The  Church 
of  England,  I  again  maintain,  rejects  the  system  of 
Arminius  as  a  human  system  ;  it  rests  on  the  holy 
canon  of  inspiration,  it  appeals  to  the  Law  and  the 
Gospel,  and  its  Articles  and  Homilies  were  estab- 
Ished  before  any  thing  was  known  either  of  Calvin 
or  Arminius  l.  But,  since  it  is  clear  that  Calvin- 
ism is  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  since  it  is 
evident  and  undeniable,  that  the  venerable  fathers 
of  the  Church  were  guided  solely  by  the  Scriptures 
and  primitive  antiquity,  if  the  opinions  of  Armi- 
nius and  the  Dutch  Remonstrants  coincide  with 
the  Articles,  the  Church  rather  rejoices  that  a  com- 
munion should  be  found  in  unison  with  itself,  which 

1  Articles  of  tlie  Church,  and  Eccles.  Canons,  Can.  xxxvi. 
and  Stat.  ISEliz.  c.  xii.  §  1  and  3. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  407 

holds  apostolical  truth :  but  the  Church  cannot  be 
called  Arminian,  otherwise  it  was  so  before  Armi- 
nius  was  known  ;  and  if  such  be  the  case,  the  Scrip- 
tures are  Arminian,  so  were  the  holy  Apostles,  the 
Fathers,  and  the  primitive  Church  \  * 

James  Van  Harmen,  or  Arminius,  was  as  far  re- 
moved from  Popery  as  Calvin,  Gomarus,  or  any 
other  of  his  violent  opposers.  So  also  were  the 
illustrious  Limborch,  Episcopius,  Grotius,  and 
others,  as  well  as  those  immortal  men  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
who  had  the  courage  to  employ  their  reasoning 
faculties  respecting  predestination  and  grace.  But 
the  true  cause  why  the  Puritans  condemned  Armi- 
nianism,  (for  I  shall  still  call  it  so,  because  lan- 
guage is  arbitrary,)  was,  that  Laud  and  his  friends 
were  unpopular,  on  account  of  their  connexion  with 
the  court.  Whoever  adhered  to  the  unfortunate 
Charles  was  certain  of  condemnation.  The  coup- 
ling of  Arminianism  and  Popery  was  the  common 
cant  and  knavery  of  the  times*  Popery,  Armini- 
anism, Atheism,  Heresy,  were  all  classed  together, 
as  well  by  the  English  Puritans  as  by  the  Scottish 
Covenanters,  the  latter  of  whom  entered  into  their 
impious  League  and  Covenant,  which  they  called 
Solemn,  to  put  to  the  sword  all  those  who  differed 
from  themselves.  It  need  not  be  again  stated,  that 
Arminianism  and  Popery  have  as  little  connexion 

1  Laurence's  (Archbishop)  Bampton  Lectures,  Lect.I.  Heylin, 
Quinquart.  Controv.  p. 


408  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

as  the  latter  has  with  Calvinism :  and  if  in  some 
things  the  Arminians  agreed  with  the  Papists, 
does  that  unite  them  in  a  common  cause  ?  But  it 
is  too  true,  that  among  zealots  every  thing  is  bad 
and  damnable  which  agrees  not  with  their  notions. 
The  man  who  does  not  fall  in  with  the  extrava- 
gancies of  the  day  is  denounced  as  irreligious ;  if 
he  does  not  adopt  the  peculiar  phraseology  of 
pietism,  he  need  not  expect  to  escape  persecution ; 
and  men  who,  stimulated  by  that  dangerous  enthu- 
siasm which  must  ever  retard  the  progress  of  pure 
and  rational  religion,  set  all  reason  and  authority 
at  defiance,  have  invariably  made  it  their  custom 
to  calumniate  their  opponents.  What  right,  as  it 
has  been  well  demanded,  had  Calvin  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  give  laws  to  the  whole  Christian  Church  ? 
Did  the  Puritans  conceive  that  they  were  the  only 
conscientious  persons  in  the  nation  ?  or  rather, 
ought  not  those  religionists  to  have  known  that 
other  opinions  had  as  good  a  right  to  allowance  and 
toleration  ?  But  such  was  not  their  system.  They 
thought  it  perfectly  right  to  be  intolerant  to  others ; 
but,  if  there  was  the  slightest  severity  towards  them- 
selves, they  commenced  their  clamour  about  liberty, 
tyranny,  Popery,  Arminianism,  and  Atheism. 

I  am  not,  let  it  be  observed,  defending  Arminian- 
ism as  a  system,  but  am  stating  what  seems  to  me  to 
be  undeniable  truth.  Laud  has  been  condemned 'as 
the  violent  defender  of  Arminianism;  the  charge 
has  been  again  and  again  repeated,  and  there 
needs  no  other  proof  of  his  infamy,  his  "  Infamous 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  409 

memory?  with  some  sectarian  writers,  than  this  as- 
sumed fact ;  and  in  his  patronage  of  Arminianism 
they  have  easily  accounted  for  his  alleged  persecu- 
tion of  the  Puritans.  Now,  I  will  admit  that  Laud 
held  the  opinions  of  the  Dutch  Remonstrants,  which 
admission  will  make  evident  the  absurdity  of  the 
Puritan  inference.  For  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that 
of  all  sects  the  Calvinists,  when  in  power,  were  the 
most  intolerant ;  as  the  conduct  of  their  leader  at 
Geneva,  and  of  his  adherents  in  England  and  Scot- 
land, abundantly  proves ;  to  such  a  degree,  indeed, 
that  England  felt  the  yoke  of  Calvinism  intolerable ; 
and,  had  it  been  established  finally  in  Scotland, 
according  to  the  fanatical  notions  of  the  Covenant- 
ing zealots,  it  would  have  been  equally  unsmTerable. 
In  the  latter  country,  at  and  before  this  period,  the 
same  spirit  pervaded  the  heart  of  every  Presbyte- 
rian preacher,  which  had  doomed  the  mild  and  vir- 
tuous, though  mistaken,  Servetus  to  the  stake ; 
which  had  secured  the  banishment  of  Bolsee,  which 
had  endeavoured  to  take  the  life  and  ruin  the  cha- 
racter of  the  wise  and  learned  Castellio,  and  which 
had  induced  Calvin,  the  grand  author  of  these  atro- 
cities, to  write  a  cool  and  deliberate  defence  of 
them,  especially  of  the  murder  of  Servetus,  in  the 
French  and  Latin  languages.  "  Popery  fell  for 
ever,"  says  an  author l,  remarking  on  the  effects  of 
Calvinism,  "  but  its  ministers  were  succeeded  by  a 

1  Cursory  Remarks,  prefixed  to  Scottish  Poems  of  the  16th 
Century,  by  J.  G.  Dalyell,  Esq.  vol.  i.  p.  43,  44,  Edinburgh, 
12mo.  1801. 


410  /    LIFE  AND  TIMES  [I628f 

class  of  men  not  more  liberal  or  more  tolerant. 
Proud  and  imperious,  no  opportunity  of  displaying 
their  authority  was  spared,  and  that  in  the  most 
grating  manner.  Very  soon  after  their  establish- 
ment they  condemned  the  Countess  of  Argyle  to 
humiliations  in  the  Church  of  Stirling,  for  assisting 
at  the  baptism  of  King  James,  and  the  High  Trea- 
surer of  Scotland  to  public  penance  in  the  Church 
of  Edinburgh.  To  be  placid  and  humble  formed 
no  part  of  their  constitution.  All  were  deep  poli- 
ticians. If  one  preached  sedition,  he  quoted  autho- 
rities in  Scripture :  if  he  intermeddled  iri  the  pri- 
vacy of  families,  he  maintained  his  privilege  of 
checking  vice.  Causes  too  trifling  for  repetition, 
they  debated  as  earnestly  as  matters  of  the  highest 
importance.  Punishment,  and  the  mode  of  inflict- 
ing it,  occupied  more  attention  than  the  manner  of 
repressing  crime.  Imaginary  Puritans,  they  thought 
by  a  decree  to  effect  that  refined  improvement 
which  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  slow  and 
imperceptible  hand  of  time.  Mercy  and  compas- 
sion for  those  whom  they  had  supplanted  were  ba- 
nished. If  their  hands  were  not  imbrued  with  blood, 
it  was  from  inability,  not  the  want  of  desire.  Such 
were  the  authors,  and  such  the  rudiments  of  a  sys- 
tem which  sense,  caution,  and  moderation,  have 
now  rendered  it  UNSAFE  TO  IMPROVE." 

These  sentiments  equally  apply  to  the  Puritans 
of  England  as  to  those  of  Scotland,  and  they  gave 
ample  demonstration,  before  a  century  elapsed  after 
the  Reformation,  that  they  were  not  slow  to  im- 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD,  411 

brue  their  hands  in  blood,  thus  completing  their 
long-devised  schemes  of  treason  and  rebellion.  But 
as  to  Arminianism,  the  Remonstrants,  as  the  Dutch 
followers  of  Arminius  were  called,  and  whose  opi- 
nions Laud  is  condemned  for  maintaining,  were 
actually  those  who  were  the  real  patriots  to  their 
country,  whereas  the  Calvinists  ruled  it  with  no 
gentle  hand.  For  the  famous  Synod  of  Dort, 
which,  under  the  pretence  of  a  fair  discussion,  (every 
member  of  it  being  compelled  to  take  an  oath  to 
that  effect l,)  was  called  by  the  professed  enemies  of 
the  Remonstrants  for  the  very  purpose  of  con- 
demning them,  arrived  at  more  absurd  and  into- 
lerant conclusions  than  any  Popish  council.  It  was 
composed  of  their  professed  enemies,  and  the  oath 
was  no  guarantee  ;  for  the  Calvinists  had  previously 
resolved  how  to  act,  and  had  determined  to  con- 
demn every  thing  as  false  and  heretical  which 
agreed  not  with  their  preconceived  opinions.  Few 
persons  need  be  told,  that  Arminianism  is  more 
favourable  to  liberty  than  Calvinism,  because  the 
very  nature  of  the  latter  is  against  any  spirit  of 
free  enquiry,  and  makes  man  beyond  dispute  a 
religious  necessitarian ;  and  hence,  if  Laud  patro- 
nised Arminianism  merely  from  love  to  Arminius, 
it  will  be  difficult  to  reconcile  his  opinions  with  his 
pretended  practice.  Nor  can  the  proceedings  of 
that  Synod,  which  James  unhappily  countenanced, 
afford  the  least  argument  against  Laud's  conduct. 

1  Abridgement  of  Brandt,  vol.  ii.  p.  £1 7.  51 1. 


412  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

It  has  indeed  established  its  reputation  among  the 
prejudiced  and  the  vulgar;  its  members  had  an 
opportunity  of  gratifying  their  ambition,  and  they 
endeavoured  to  avenge  themselves  on  those  who 
had  excelled  them  in  celebrity :  but,  instead  of 
tending  to  promote  unity  and  concord,  it  was  a 
firebrand  in  the  Church,  the  Remonstrants  were 
condemned,  and  the  Synod  readily  assisted  in  those 
calamities  which  they  afterwards  experienced  *< 

The  answer  of  the  King  to  this  Remonstrance 
against  Bishops  Laud  and  Neile,  declared  that 
great  wrong  was  done  to  two  great  prelates  with- 
out any  proof.  "  For  should  they  or  any  others," 
said  the  King,  "  attempt  innovation  of  religion,  we 
shall  quickly  take  order  with  them,  without  staying 
for  the  remonstrance."  And  the  assertion,  that 
Arminianism  was  a  cunning  way  to  introduce  Po- 
pery, was  met  by  the  King  with  this  decisive 
answer,  that  "  it  was  a  mere  dream,"  and  that  at- 
tention to  it  "  would  make  our  people  believe  we 
were  asleep." 

The  Puritan  historian,  however,  thinks  other- 
wise; and  as  proof  he  has  inserted  from  Rushworth's 
Collections  an  abstract  of  a  letter  alleged  to  have 
been  written  by  a  Jesuit  in  England  to  the  Rector 
of  their  College  at  Brussels  2,  which,  says  that 
sectarian  writer,  in  his  usual  manner,  "  will  suffi- 


1  Hale's  Golden  Remains,  p.  454.     London  edit.  8vo.  1687. 

2  Vol.  i.  p.  414.     Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  182,  183,  184.  and  he 
refers  to  the  effusion  entitled  "  Foxes  and  Firebrands." 


W28.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  413 

ciently  support  the  Parliament's  charge,  and  shew 
how  Arminianism  and  Popery,  which  have  no  na- 
tural connexion  \  came  to  be  united  at  this  time 
against  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties 
of  England  V 

I  shall  not  stop  here  to  enquire  whether  this  letter 
be  genuine  or  not,  but  shall  assume  it  as  such,  and 
by  that  means  meet  Neal's  arguments.  This  let- 
ter states,  after  glancing  at  the  political  connexions 
of  James  with  Spain,  "  that  none  but  the  Puritan 
faction,  which  plotted  nothing  but  anarchy,  and 
James'  confusion,  were  averse  to  the  Spanish 
treaty ;"  that  the  Papists  "  have  made  great  use  of 
this  anarchical  election  preferring  to  the  assembled 
parliament^  and  have  prejudicated  and  anticipated 
the  great  one,  that  none  but  the  King's  enemies, 
and  his,  are  chosen  of  this  Parliament."  "  When 
King  James  lived,"  says  the  writer,  "  he  was  very 
violent  against  Arminianism,  and  interrupted  with 
his  pestilent  art,  and  deep  learning,  our  strong 
designs  in  Holland,  and  was  a  great  friend  to  that 
old  rebel  and  heretic,  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Now, 
we  have  planted  that  sovereign  drug  Arminianism, 
which  we  hope  will  purge  the  Protestants  from 
their  heresy,  and  it  bears  fruit  in  due  season.  Our 
foundation  is  Arminianism :  the  Arminians  and  pro- 

1  This  is  a  remarkable  admission,  and  yet  he  contradicts 
himself,  as  usual,  in  the  next  sentence. 
3  Neal,  ut  sup. 


414  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

jectors,  as  it  appears  on  the  premises,  affect  imi- 
tation1." 

This  is  a  mere  extract  from  the  said  letter,  which 
Neal  has  garbled  in  his  history ;  but  it  is  worthy 
of  a  few  remarks.  In  the  first  instance,  that  writer 
presumes  to  say,  "  It  appears,  from  this  letter, 
that  Puritanism  was  the  only  bulwark  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  of  the  Protestant  religion,  against 
the  inroads  of  Popery  and  arbitrary  power."  But 
it  certainly  does  not  appear  so,  even  from  Neal's 
version  of  it ;  and  what  will  the  reader  say, 
when  he  is  told,  that  this  very  letter  talks  of  the 
Puritans  with  the  utmost  contempt,  says  that  "  they 
plotted  nothing  but  anarchy  and  confusion,"  and 
actually  bears  witness  that  the  Jesuits  were  follow- 
ing the  Puritan  practices.  "  I  cannot  but  laugh," 
says  the  writer,  "  to  see  how  some  of  our  coat  have 
accoutred  themselves.  You  would  scarce  know  them 
if  you  saw  them.  And  it  is  admirable  how  in 
speech  and  gesture  they  act  the  Puritans 2."  Yet 
those  passages  are  all  suppressed  by  this  sectarian, 
as  will  be  seen  by  a  comparison  between  his  version 
of  the  letter  and  the  complete  one  in  Rushworth ; 
and,  though  conscious  of  this  chicanery,  he  has  the 
assurance  to  tell  his  reader  that  "  it  appears  from 

1  Rushworth,  ut  sup. 

2  That  is,  snuffle,  cant,  and  whine,  like  the  mad  fanatics  at 
conventicles,  who  would  frequently  (as  they  do  yet)  hear  two 
or  more  sermons  a-day,  and  repeat  the  same  again,  and  after- 
wards pray,  and  fast  all  day  long. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  415 

this  letter  that  Puritanism  was  the  only  bulwark  of 
the  Constitution!" 

Let  it  be  again  noted,  that  as  the  Jesuits,  above 
all  the  other  Orders  of  the  Romish  Church,  agreed 
with  the  Arminians  respecting  the  theological  doc- 
trine of  free  grace,  it  was  not,  surely,  to  be  sup- 
posed that  they  would  treat  it  with  contempt. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Dominicans  and  the 
vapouring  Jansenists  were  as  rigid  Predestinarians 
as  Calvin  himself.  Arminianism  is  indeed  called  a 
"  sovereign  drug,"  but  it  was  so  only  to  the  "  Puri- 
tan faction,  which  plotted  nothing  but  anarchy," 
and  it  mattered  not  though  the  Jesuit  declared 
that  "  his  foundation  was  Arminianism,"  (as  it  in 
reality  was,  in  reference  to  the  acknowledged  doc- 
trines of  the  Order,)  since  by  his  own  testimony  he 
acted  with  the  Puritans  "both  in  speech  and  ges- 
ture." Now,  even  granting  NeaFs  view  of  the 
case,  is  it  not  evident  that  a  Jansenist  would  have 
written  very  differently ;  and  how  absurd  is  it  to 
produce,  as  a  decisive  authority,  the  individual 
letter  of  an  unknown  Jesuit,  (always  presuming 
that  it  is  genuine,)  when  every  one  knows  that  the 
Romish  orders  entertained  a  more  bitter  rivalry  and 
jealousy  towards  each  other,  than  perhaps  towards 
the  Protestants ; — that  they  were  in  open  hostility, 
as  is  proved  by  the  proceedings  of  the  Calvinistic 
Dominicans  against  the  Franciscans, — and  that, 
in  all  probability,  we  should  have  heard  of  none 
of  the  tricks  of  monks  at  all,  had  they  not  fallen 
out  among  themselves,  and  exposed  the  knavery 


4-16  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

of  the  whole  by  their  endeavours  to  spoil  each 
other's  trade. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  the  Romanists 
treated  the  Puritans  with  sovereign  contempt,  fo- 
mented the  discords  among  them,  knowing  well 
that  they  were  utterly  unable  to  combat  the  follies 
of  Rome.  The  Puritan  extravagances  were  not 
only  encouraged,  but  adopted,  by  the  Romish  mis- 
sionaries, that  they  might  weaken  and  ultimately 
overthrow  the  Church.  But  as  an  antidote  to  the 
Puritan  historian's  view  of  the  matter,  as  well  as  to 
refute  the  opinions  of  all  those  who  agree  with  him, 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter,  written  to  Laud 
at  a  later  period,  and  by  a  more  unexceptionable 
person  than  this  pretended  Jesuit,  will  exhibit  the 
matter  in  a  different  light.  "  Be  you  assured," 
says  Sir  William  Boswell,  the  English  resident  at 
the  Hague,  "  the  Romish  clergy  have  gulled  (de- 
ceived) the  misled  party  of  our  English  nation,  and 
that  under  a  Puritanical  dress  :  for  which  the  seve- 
ral fraternities  of  that  Church  have  lately  received 
indulgence  from  the  See  of  Rome  and  Council  of 
Cardinals,  to  educate  some  of  the  young  fry  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  who  be  natives  of  his  Majesty's 
realms  and  dominions,  and  instruct  them  in  all 
manner  of  principles  and  tenets  contrary  to  the 
Episcopacy  of  the  Church  of  England.  There  be 
in  the  town  of  the  Hague,  to  my  certain  knowledge, 
two  dangerous  impostors,  who  have  large  indul- 
gences granted  to  them,  and  known  to  be  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  although  they  seem  to  be  Puri- 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  417 

tans.  The  main  drift  of  their  intention  is  to  pull 
down  the  English  Episcopacy ;  for  which  purpose, 
above  sixty  Romish  clergymen  are  gone  within  these 
two  years  out  of  the  monasteries  of  the  French 
King's  dominions,  to  preach  up  the  Scot's  Covenant, 
and  Mr.  Knox's  prescriptions  and  rules  within  that 
Kirk,  and  to  spread  the  same  about  the  northern 
coasts  of  England.  There  be  great  preparations 
making  already  against  the  Liturgy  and  Ceremonies 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  all  evil  contrivances 
here  and  in  France,  and  in  the  other  Protestant 
holdings,  to  make  your  Grace  and  the  Episcopacy 
odious  to  the  Reformed  Protestants  abroad.  It 
has  wrought  so  much  on  divers  of  the  foreign  minis- 
ters of  the  Protestants,  that  they  esteem  our  clergy 
little  better  than  Popish.  The  main  things  that 
they  hit  in  our  teeth  are,  our  bishops  to  be  called 
lords,  the  service  of  the  Church,  the  cross  in  bap- 
tism, confirmation,  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus, 
the  communion-table  placed  altar-ways,  our  manner 
of  consecrations  V 

The  same  facts  are  farther  corroborated  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  by  Bishop  Bramhall  in  1646,  who, 
when  in  exile  from  his  See  of  Derry,  in  Ireland,  in- 
formed Archbishop  Usher,  that  by  an  order  from 
Rome,  above  an  hundred  of  the  Popish  clergy  were 
sent  into  England,  consisting  of  English,  Scots,  and 
Irish,  who  had  been  educated  in  the  Popish  conti- 

1  Sir  W.  Boswell  to  Archbishop  Laud,  dated  the  Hague,  10th 
of  June,  1640,  Cotton  Papers,  Cal.  and  also  Scottish  Episcopal 
Magazine,  vol.  iii.  No.  XI.  p.  334. 
VOL.  I.  EC 


418  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

nental  kingdoms,  and  who  were  prepared  to  assume 
any  disguise  which  would  tend  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  Church  of  England,  by  pretending  to  advocate 
Presbytery,  Independency,  Anabaptism,  Atheism, 
or  any  thing,  in  short,  which  would  be  advanced  by 
the  sectarians.  The  same  prelate  also  substantiates 
the  fact,  that  it  was  universally  understood  by  these 
incendiaries,  "  that  there  was  no  better  design  to 
confound  the  Church  of  England,  than  by  pre- 
tending liberty  of  conscience  ;"  and  "  that  it  was 
lawful  for  Roman  Catholics  to  work  changes 
in  governments  (this  is  actually  the  policy  of  the 
doctors  of  the  Sorbonne)  for  mother  church's  ad- 
vancement, and  chiefly  in  an  heretical  kingdom, 
and  so  lawfully  may  make  away  with  the  king!9 
Now,  let  the  reader  bear  in  mind  the  conduct  of 
the  Puritan  faction  in  Parliament ;  let  him  calmly, 
and  without  prejudice,  weigh  this  evidence  with  the 
representations  of  the  Puritan  historian,  and  then 
he  will  see  how  far  that  writer's  assertion  is  true, 
"  that  Puritanism  was  the  only  bulwark  of  the 
constitution,  and  of  the  Protestant  religion,  against 
the  inroads  of  Popery  and  arbitrary  power" 
The  very  reverse  was  the  case.  The  follies  and  ab- 
surdities of  those  affected  religionists  were  the  grand 
medium  by  which  the  Papists  intended  to  overthrow 
the  Church  of  this  "  heretical  kingdom ;"  and  we 
see  that  they  actually  had  instructions  and  dispen- 
sations to  imitate  "  the  speech  and  gesture  of 
the  Puritans,"  towards  whom  they  cherished  not 
hatred,  truly,  for  they  reckoned  them  altogether  un- 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  419 

worthy  antagonists,  but  a  profound  contempt.  And 
what  are  we  to  think  of  a  faction,  whicli  divided  in 
itself,  into  Presbyterians,  Brownists  or  Independ- 
ents, Anabaptists,  &c.  could  by  its  extravagances 
entice  the  Papists  to  unite  with  it ;  men  who  held, 
and  who  do  still  hold,  that  it  was  lawful  for  Roman 
Catholics  to  work  changes  in  governments  for  mo- 
ther church's  advancement,  and  chiefly  in  an  here- 
tical kingdom ;  but,  above  all,  that  it  was  lawful  to 
make  away  with  the  Mng  ?     Where,  then,  is  this 
Puritanism,  this  boasted  bulwark  of  English  liberty, 
this  preservative  of  the  Protestant  religion  ?   If  the 
secret  intentions  of  both  Papists  and  Puritans  to 
destroy  the  King  be  liberty,  it  is  indeed  a  species 
of  it  heretofore  unknown.     If  the  cant  of  the  times 
against  Popery  and  Arminianism  be  an  indication  of 
liberty,  I  maintain  that  there  was  a  despotism  con- 
cealed under  those  remonstrances  more  intolerable 
than  that  of  the  Roman  Emperors.    And  the  reign  of 
hypocrisy  and  fanaticism,  which  was  hastening  on, 
and  which  Laud  and  his  great  coadjutors  strove  to 
avert,  but  strove  in  vain,  is  proof  of  these  remarks. 
"  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  Jesuits,"  says  a  learned 
writer,  one  of  the  present  distinguished  ornaments 
of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  "could  then  unite 
and    symbolize    with   Covenanters,   Independents, 
Anabaptists,  and  Atheists ;  and  perhaps  their  lead- 
ers, and  many  of  their  agents  and  abettors,  had 
universally  the  same  motive,  the  promotion  of  their 
own  temporal  influence,  honour,  and  interest,  and 
the  gratification  of  those  peculiar  passions  and  pre- 

E  e  2 


420  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

judices,  which  they  cherished.  Religion  and  liberty 
were  equally  the  pretext  of  all ;  both  excellent  and 
worthy,  the  former  of  all  reverence,  and  the  latter 
of  all  respect ;  but  each  utterly  incompatible  with 
those  vices,  with  that  turbulence,  with  that  malig- 
nity, with  that  hypocrisy,  aye,  and  with  that  into- 
lerance, of  which  those  pretenders,  Papists  and 
Puritans,  Monks  and  Covenanters,  were  almost 
universally  and  habitually  guilty  V 

On  the  26th  of  June  the  Parliament  was  pro- 
rogued till  the  20th  of  October,  and  the  proceedings 
against  Buckingham  in  the  mean  time  ceased.  The 
favourites  of  Princes  are  generally  unpopular  with 
the  rabble,  who,  envying  a  grandeur  which  is  not 
their  birth-right,  and  which  they  have  not  the  capa- 
city to  attain,  display  their  jealousy  and  hatred  by 
dastardly  intrigues  and  by  resolute  opposition.  Yet 
no  monarch  is  so  utterly  blind  as  to  bestow  his  favours 
on  men  who  cannot  appreciate  them,  or  who  cannot 
render  him  suitable  services  in  return :  at  all  events, 
the  rabble  are  not  those  who  are  to  judge  their 
Sovereign,  not  even  in  an  age  famed  for  the  "march 
of  intellect."  The  promotion  of  minions  without 
capacity  is  indeed  to  be  deprecated  ;  but  certainly  a 
Prince  has  a  right  to  bestow  his  favour  at  will.  It 
is  the  elevation  of  plebeian  ignorance  and  pride, 
without  talents  for  affairs,  which  ought  to  be  scru- 
tinized ;  and  the  nobles  of  the  land  will  not  be 

1  Scottish  Episcopal  Magazine,  ut  sup.  In  the  admirable 
sketch  of  the  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  421 

forgetful  of  their  birth-right.  But  want  of  illus- 
trious descent  is  no  disgrace  to  the  man  who  is 
worthy  of  high  promotion ;  the  nobility  of  his 
mind  in  some  degree  compensates  for  his  obscure 
origin. 

On  the  llth  of  July,  Laud's  conge  d'elire  was 
signed  by  the  King ;  and  on  the  15th  of  that  month, 
1629,  being  St.  Swithin's  day,  he  was  translated 
from  Bath  and  Wells  to  London.  He  had  been 
nominated  on  the  17th  of  June,  1628;  but  from  the 
causes  already  mentioned,  he  was  restrained  from 
the  possession  of  his  new  diocese  till  this  year.  He 
was  succeeded  in  Bath  and  Wells  by  Dr.  Leonard 
Mawe  \ 

Thus  have  we  seen  this  great  prelate  already  fill- 
ing two  dioceses  with  distinguished  reputation, 
fearless  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  disdaining  to 
become  a  time-server,  firm  in  his  fidelity  to  his  Sove- 
reign, and  devoted  to  the  Church  of  which  he  was 
the  ornament.  In  the  midst  of  opposition,  intrigue, 
faction,  and  foul  reproach,  he  was  undaunted,  and 
his  animating  virtue  rose  superior  to  the  extrava- 
gances of  religious  enthusiasm :  we  observe  him 
pursuing  his  course  with  uniform  consistency,  re- 
solved to  establish  the  Protestant  Church  of  Eng- 
land on  a  secure  foundation,  or  to  perish  in  his 
noble  undertaking.  Who,  then,  will  deny  him  the 
praise  of  being  a  man  truly  great,  if  integrity, 
probity,  religion,  profound  learning,  modesty,  are 

1  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Anglicanae  Ecclesise,  p.  34. 


422  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

worthy  of  praise  l  ?  Of  course,  he  will  be  condemned 
for  his  bigotry,  but,  to  say  the  least,  he  was  as  tole- 
rant as  any  of  his  contemporaries.  Nor  let  it  be 
said,  as  has  been  often  done  by  sectarian  writers, 
that  Laud  in  any  way  frustrated  the  fair  prospects 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  "  Human  society," 
says  the  learned  writer  just  quoted,  (and  the  follow- 
ing language  cannot  be  too  attentively  weighed  by 
the  affected  liberalists  of  the  present  day,)  "  is  not 
a  fit  field  for  the  rash  experiments  of  any  set  of 
men,  whatever  character  they  assume,  and  what- 
ever pretensions  they  exhibit  :  whether  they  wear 
the  garb  of  religious  fanaticism,  or  whether,  under 
the  mask  of  hypocrisy,  they  lean  to  superstition 
and  sectarianism,  or  whether,  rejecting  religion  alto- 
gether, they  wear  the  mask  of  mild  philosophy. 
The  mask  is  different,  and  the  mode  is  various. 
The  motives  are  generally  the  same.  Even  when 
the  intentions  are  sound  and  sincere,  the  execution 
is  doubtful.  We  cannot,  in  any  society,  great  or 
small,  calculate  the  consequences  of  essential  change 
with  absolute  certainty  ;  and,  therefore,  he  who 
seriously,  and  of  set  purpose,  undermines  the  esta- 
blished principles  by  which  any  society  is  held  toge- 
ther, whether  his  pretext  be  religion  or  liberty,  a 
reformed  system  of  faith,  or  a  philosophical  improve- 
ment of  policy  and  manners,  is  justly  to  be  sus- 
pected of  views  beyond  what  he  avows,  and  may  be 


1  "  Vir  vere  magnus,  si  quid  habent  probitas,  pietas,  fides, 
summa  eruditio,  par  modestia,  mores  sanctissimi." 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  423 

justly  resisted,  even  when  he  is  sincere ;  because  he 
cannot  with  any  certainty  say,  even  if  he  obtain  his 
avowed  object,  '  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no 
farther,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed/ 
He  cannot  even  assure  us,  as  experience  universally 
proves,  that  when  his  avowed  object  is  attained,  he 
will  be  satisfied  himself.  The  reformer,  whether 
religious,  political,  or  philosophical,  who  addresses 
reason  to  the  public  reason  of  mankind  is  always 
respectable,  and  will  generally  produce  a  salutary 
though  a  gradual  influence  on  the  public  mind. 
But  he  who  addresses  the  mob,  and  who  labours  to 
enlist  the  populace  in  his  service,  aims  evidently  at 
revolution ;  and  if  salutary  consequences  ultimately 
result,  it  will  generally  be  through  scenes  of  crime 
and  suffering,  and  by  a  Providence  over  which  the 
original  agitator  has  no  control.  There  is  a  limi- 
tation of  intellect  and  of  vision  in  such  men,  with  all 
their  high  pretensions,  which  is  truly  pitiable.  With 
pretensions  which  have  no  limit,  they  seem  chained 
to  earth  and  fixed  to  time,  as  if  society  were  a  mass 
of  matter  on  which  they  may  repeat  experiments 
ad  infinitum,  without  regarding  the  misery  which 
they  occasion,  or  the  risk  to  which  they  expose  the 
individuals  whom  they  influence,  when  time  with 
them  shall  give  place  to  eternity." 


424  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628 

»'•*!* 


CHAPTER  X. 

1628—1629. 

Insinuations  against  Laud — His  conduct — Preparations  for  the 
war  with  France — The  Duke  of  Buckingham  assumes  the 
command—He  proceeds  to  Portsmouth — Is  there  assassinated 
'—Account  of  the  murder — Public  expressions  of  detestation 
— Character  of  Buckingham — Laud's  conduct — Consecration 
of  Dr.  Montague — The  exceptions  against  it  over-ruled — 
Examination  of  Felton,  the  Duke's  murderer — His  trial  and 
execution — the  University  of  Oxford — Laud's  care  and  munifi- 
cence— His  patronage  of  learning — The  King's  Declaration 
— Its  nature  and  tendency — Remarks  on  it — The  King's 
inclination  to  a  reconciliation — Advancement  of  Sir  Thomas 
Wentworth — The  Third  Parliament — Notice  of  the  Speeches 
in  it — Censure  of  the  King's  Declaration — Intolerance  of  the 
Puritanical  party — Proceedings  of  Laud — Theological  dis- 
putes— Conduct  of  the  Parliament — Disorders  in  the  Commons 
•—Their  contempt  of  the  royal  authority — Uproar  at  their 
adjournment — Dissolution  of  the  Third  Parliament — Libels 
against  Laud. 

IT  will  be  readily  supposed,  that  Laud's  enemies 
did  not  behold  his  advancement  to  tha  see  of  Lon- 
don with  unconcern.  The  favour  of  the  King,  and 
the  vigorous  discharge  of  his  duty,  were  reasons 
sufficient,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Puritans,  to  make  him 
the  object  of  their  hatred ;  and  they  dreaded  the 
effects  of  his  vigilance  in  the  administration  of  the 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  425 

important  diocese  over  which  he  was  called  to  pre- 
side. The  metropolis  being  the  grand  resort  of  their 
leaders,  they  felt  that  the  security  they  had  enjoyed 
under  Montaigne  was  at  an  end.  Archbishop  Ab- 
bot was  now  aged  and  infirm,  otherwise  he  might 
have  renewed  his  opposition ;  but  as  he  lived  in  re- 
tirement, his  house  resembled  more  a  conventicle 
than  the  residence  of  a  Protestant  Bishop.  Never- 
theless, those  whom  he  patronised  w«re  not  idle : 
they  practised  with  the  parliamentary  zealots,  and 
it  was  industriously  circulated  that  Laud  wrote  all 
the  King's  and  Buckingham's  speeches.  This  re- 
port excited  the  indignation  of  the  rabble,  who 
gave  the  utmost  credence  to  the  insinuations  of  their 
leaders.  But  Laud  endured  these  calumnies  with 
his  accustomed  fortitude,  conscious  of  his  own  in- 
tegrity, and  of  the  singleness  of  his  motives. 

About  this  period  we  find  the  Bishop  named  one 
of  a  commission  of  a  very  disagreeable  nature, 
namely,  one  for  raising  money,  by  impositions, 
taxes,  or  otherwise,  which  the  Commons  called  Ex- 
cises. This  commission  is  directed  to  twenty- three 
lords  and  others  of  the  council,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  executed  *. 

After  the  prorogation  of  Parliament,  Bucking- 
ham, in  the  interval,  endeavoured  to  regain  that 
popularity  which  he  had  lately  lost  by  the  charges 
made  against  him  in  the  House  of  Commons.  For 
this  purpose,  he  resolved  to  make  a  second  expedi- 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  614,  615,  616. 


426  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

tion  to  Rochelle,  which  was  then  closely  besieged 
by  the  French,  by  which  he  might  accede  to  the 
wishes  of  the  inhabitants,  who  had  requested,  by 
their  deputies,  that  he  would  again  take  the  com- 
mand in  person1.  On  the  12th  of  August,  1628, 
he  left  London  for  Portsmouth,  to  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  expedition,  and  to  superintend  the 
preparations. 

This  journey  proved  fatal  to  him,  nor  was  he 
destined  ever  again  to  return  to  the  court  of  his 
sovereign.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  narrate  the 
famous  story  of  the  apparition  which  he  is  alleged 
to  have  seen  before  his  departure,  to  warn  him  of 
his  death,  which,  notwithstanding  the  discussion  it 
has  occasioned,  and  the  credulity  of  Lord  Claren- 
don, is  a  mere  idle  tale.  Yet  the  Duke,  before  his 
departure,  seems  to  have  had  some  melancholy 
prepossessions,  originating,  probably,  from  his  know- 
ledge of  the  popular  discontent.  In  parting  with 
Laud,  his  friend  and  confident,  he  said  that  he  was 
well  aware  of  the  King's  unalterable  affection  to- 
wards him,  and  he  therefore  besought  his  Lordship 
to  recommend  his  poor  wife  and  children  to  his 
Majesty's  notice.  Laud,  alarmed  at  the  Duke's 
manner  and  language,  asked  him,  if  he  had  never 
any  forebodings,  to  which  the  Duke  replied,  "  No, 
but  I  think  I  may  chance  to  be  killed  as  well  as  any 
other  man  V 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  467. 

2  Sir  Henry  Wotton's  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
edit. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  427 

John  Felton  was  an  obscure  person,  but  of  a 
good  family,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk.  He  had 
served  under  Sir  John  Ramsay,  but  having  been 
refused  the  command  of  a  company  by  the  Duke, 
when  his  captain  was  killed  at  the  Isle  of  Rhe,  he  re- 
signed his  commission,  and  retired  from  the  army  at 
the  time  that  the  faction  in  the  House  of  Commons 
declared  Buckingham  to  be  "  the  principal  cause  of 
all  the  evils  the  kingdom  suffered  l."  This  remon- 
strance, and  a  fanatical  libel  written  against  the 
unfortunate  nobleman,  instigated  this  gloomy  en- 
thusiast to  contrive  his  assassination.  He  accord- 
ingly loitered  about  Portsmouth,  and,  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  an  opportunity,  watched  narrowly  the 
Duke's  proceedings,  who  lodged  in  the  house  of  one 
Captain  Mason.  On  this  morning,  he  mingled  with 
the  crowd  attending  in  the  room  where  Buckingham 
was  dressing,  and  preparing  for  breakfast.  The 
public  discourse  was  on  the  relief  of  Rochelle,  and 
several  French  officers  were  urging  him  to  a  speedy 
departure.  A  domestic  having  announced  that 
breakfast  was  ready,  the  Duke  prepared  to  leave 
the  room,  when,  turning  to  address  Sir  Thomas 
Fryar,  one  of  his  colonels,  he  was  struck  over  that 
officer's  shoulder  by  the  assassin,  and  pierced  to 
the  heart.  The  unfortunate  nobleman  exclaimed, 
"  The  villain  has  killed  me ;"  and  pulling  out  the 

1  History  of  England  by  Laurence  Echard,  M.A.  Archdeacon 
of  Stowe,  folio,  London,  1788,  vol.  i,  p.  68.  Peck's  Desiderata 
Curiosa,  p.  523. 


428  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

knife  with  his  own  hand,  he  sunk  on  the  floor,  and 
soon  after  expired,  on  Saturday,  the  23d  day  of 
August,  1628,  in  the  36th  year  of  his  age  *. 

1  The  following  letter,  which  gives  a  very  minute  account 
of  this  unfortunate  nobleman's  assassination,  will  not  be  deemed 
uninteresting.  It  was  written  by  Lord  Carleton  to  the  Queen, 
dated  Southwick,  on  Saturday,  "  at  afternoon,  August  23d, 
1628,  touching  the  tragicall  end  of  my  Lord  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham." (Lansdowne  MSS.  Miscellan.  Collect.  213.) 

"  Maddam,  I  am  to  trouble  your  Grace  with  a  most  lament- 
able relation.  This  day,  betwixt  nine  and  ten  of  the  clocke  in 
the  morning,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  then  comming  out  of  a 
parlor  into  a  hall,  to  goe  to  his  coach,  and  ride  to  the  King, 
(who  was  four  miles  off,)  having  about  him  diverse  lords,  collo- 
nells,  and  captaines,  and  many  of  his  owne  servants,  was  by 
one  Felton  (once  a  lieutenant  of  his  own  army)  slaine  at  one 
blow  with  a  dagger  knife.  In  his  staggering  he  turned  about, 
uttering  only  this  word  villaine,  and  never  spake  word  more, 
but  presently  plucking  out  the  knife  from  himselfe,  before  he 
fell  to  the  ground,  hee  made  towards  the  traytor  two  or  three 
paces,  and  then  fell  against  a  table,  altho'  he  were  upheld  by 
diverse  that  were  neere  him,  that,  through  the  villain's  close  car- 
riage in  the  act  could  not  perceive  him  hurt  at  all,  but  guessed 
him  to  be  suddenly  oversway'd  with  some  apoplexie,  till  they 
saw  the  blood  come  gushing  from  his  mouth  and  the  wound  soe 
fast,  that  life  and  breath  at  once  left  his  begored  body. 

"  Maddam,  you  may  easily  guesse  what  outcryes  were  then 
made  by  us  that  were  commaunders  and  officers  there  present, 
when  wee  saw  him  thus  dead  in  a  moment,  and  slaine  by  an 
unknowne  hand,  for  it  seems  that  the  Duke  himselfe  only  knew 
who  it  was  that  had  murdered  him,  and  by  meanes  of  the  con- 
fined presse  at  the  instant  about  his  person,  wee  neither  did 
nor  could.  The  souldiers  feare  his  losse  will  be  their  utter 
ruine,  wherefore  att  that  instant  the  house,  and  the  court  about 
it  were  full,  every  man  present  with  the  Duke's  body,  endea- 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  429 

In  the  midst  of  the  great  and  general  consterna- 
tion, the  assassin  was  for  some  moments  unnoticed. 

vouring  a  care  of  itt.  In  the  meane  time  Felton  pass'd  the 
throng,  which  was  confusedly  great,  not  soe  much  as  mark'd  or 
followed,  insoemuch  that  not  knowing  where,  nor  who  he  was 
that  had  done  the  fact,  some  came  to  keepe  guard  at  the  gates, 
and  others  went  to  the  ramparts  of  the  towne  :  in  all  which 
time  the  villaine  was  standing  in  the  kitchen  of  the  same  house, 
and  after  the  inquiry  made  by  a  multitude  of  captaines  and 
gentlemen,  then  pressing  into  the  same  house  and  court,  and 
crying  out  amaine,  "  Where  is  the  villain  ?  where  is  the 
butcher  ?"  he  most  audaciously,  and  resolutely  drawing  forth  his 
sword,  came  out,  and  went  amongst  them,  saying  boldly,  "  I  am 
the  man,  heere  I  am,"  upon  which  diverse  drew  upon  him, 
with  an  intent  to  have  then  dispatched  him,  but  Sir  Thomas 
Morton,  my  selfe,  and  some  others,  used  such  meanes,  (tho* 
with  much  trouble  and  difficulty)  that  wee  drew  him  out  of 
their  hands,  and  by  order  of  my  Lord  High  Chamberlaine,  wee 
had  the  charge  of  keeping  him  from  any  coming  to  him,  until 
a  guard  of  musketeers  were  brought  to  convey  him  to  the 
governor's  house,  when  we  were  discharged. 

"  My  Lord  High  Chamberlane  and  Mr.  Secretary  Cooke  who 
were  then  at  the  governor's  house,  did  there  take  his  examination, 
of  which  as  yet  there  is  nothing  knowne,  only  whilst  he  was  in  our 
custody  I  asked  him  several  questions,  to  which  he  answered, 
viz.  Hee  sayed,  he  was  a  Protestant  in  religion;  hee  also 
expressed  himself,  that  hee  was  partly  discontented  for  want  of 
government  pay,  which  was  due  unto  him,  and  for  that  he  being 
lieutenant  of  a  company  of  foot,  the  company  was  given  over  his 
head  unto  another,  and  yet  hee  sayd,  that  that  did  not  move  him 
to  this  resolution,  but  that  hee  reading  the  remonstrance  of  the 
House  of  Parliament,  it  came  into  his  mind,  that  in  committing 
the  act  of  killing  the  Duke,  he  should  doe  his  country  great  and 
good  service.  And  hee  sayd,  that  tomorrow  he  mas  to  be  prayed 
for  in  London.  I  then  asked  him,  att  wfcat  church,  and  to  what 


430  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628, 

But  at  length,  on  the  Duke's  attendants  turning  to 
discover  the  murderer,  a  hat  was  found,  with  a 
writing  concealed  in  it,  containing  some  remarks  on 
the  remonstrance  of  the  Commons,  a  few  ejacula- 
tory  expressions  in  the  form  of  a  prayer,  and  the 
reasons  which  moved  him  to  commit  the  act l. 


purpose ;  hee  told  me  at  a  church  by  Fleet  Street  conduit,  and 
as  for  a  man  much  discontented  in  mind.  Now,  wee  seeing 
things  to  fall  from  him  in  this  manner,  suffered  him  not  to  bee 
further  questioned  by  any,  thinking  it  much  fitter  for  the  Lords 
to  examine  him,  and  to  find  it  out,  and  know  from  him,  whether 
hee  was  encouraged,  and  sett  on  by  any  to  performe  this  wicked 
deed. 

"  But  to  returne  to  the  screeches  made  att  the  fatall  blow 
given,  the  Duchesse  of  Buckingham  and  the  Countess  of  Angle- 
sey came  forth  into  a  gallery,  which  looked  into  the  hall,  where 
they  might  behold  the  blood  of  their  deerest  lord  gushing  from 
him.  Ah  !  poor  ladies  !  such  were  their  screeching,  teares,  and 
distractions,  that  I  never  in  my  life  heard  the  like  before,  and 
hope  never  to  heare  the  like  againe.  His  Majesties  griefe  for 
the  losse  of  him  was  expressed  to  bee  more  than  great,  by  the 
many  teares  hee  hath  shed  for  him,  with  which  I  will  conclude 

this  sad  and  untimely  news. 

*          *  ****** 

"  Maddam,  this  is  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth,  yet  all  too  much  too,  if  it  had  soe  pleased  God.  I 
thought  it  my  bounden  duty,  howsoever,  to  let  your  Majestic 
have  the  first  intelligence  of  it,  by  the  hand  of,  Maddam,  your 
sorrowful  servant,  DUDLEY  CARLETON." 

1  Felton  probably  thought  he  would  be  immediately  put  to 
death,  and  therefore  he  had  prepared  this  writing.  His  reasons 
were,  1 .  "  That  man  is  cowardly,  and  deserveth  neither  the  name 
of  a  gentleman  or  a  soldier,  in  my  opinion,  that  will  not  sacrifice 
his  life  for  the  good  of  his  country."  This  is  evidently  a  com- 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  431 

Some  persons  immediately  demanded,  who  was  the 
murderer?  when  Felton,  instead  of  making  the 
least  attempt  to  escape,  which  he  could  easily  have 
effected,  calmly  stepped  forward,  and  confessed  the 
fact l.  Being  in  danger  of  immediate  death  from 
the  rage  of  the  attendants,  he  was  secured.  As  if 
to  induce  him  to  make  a  discovery  of  the  motives 
to  commit  the  crime,  one  of  the  Duke's  friends  said, 
that  the  Duke  was  only  much  wounded,  but  not 
without  hopes  of  recovery :  but  Felton  replied  with 
a  smile,  that  he  knew  well  he  had  struck  a  mortal 
blow.  When  further  questioned  as  to  his  motives, 
or  who  had  incited  him,  he  firmly  replied,  "  That 
all  their  inquiries  were  of  little  avail ;  no  man  had 
interest  enough  with  him  to  dispose  him  to  such  an 
action ;  it  proceeded  merely  from  the  impulse  of  his 
own  conscience,  and  he  had  placed  a  writing  in  his 
hat  in  explanation,  because  he  thought  he  might 
probably  perish  in  the  attempt 2." 

ment  on  the  Remonstrance  of  the  Commons.  2.  "  If  I  bee  slaine, 
let  no  man  discommend  me  for  what  I  have  done,  but  rather  dis- 
commend himself  who  is  the  cause  of  it.  It  is  for  our  sins  that 
our  hearts  are  hardened,  and  become  senseless,  else  he  (the 
Duke)  had  not  gone  soe  long  unpunished.  J.  FELTON." — Har- 
leian  MSS.  1327.  Lansdowne  MSS.  213. 

1  It  is  alleged,  that "  a  man  was  seen  walking  very  composedly 
before  the  door  without  a  hat ;  and  upon  one  crying  out,  here  is 
the  man  that  killed  the  Duke,  and  others  demanding,  which  is  he, 
he  calmly  answered,  I  am  he."     Echard,  ut  sup. 

2  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  had  Felton  not  confessed,  there 
was  no  evidence  to  condemn  him,  and  he  might  have  made  his 
escape  unobserved.     No  one  had  seen  him  commit  the  crime. 

7 


432  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [162S. 

Charles  was  at  Southwick,  four  miles  distant, 
with  his  court,  when  the  Duke  met  his  fate.  When 
intelligence  of  the  murder  was  communicated  to 
him,  he  was  at  divine  service,  and  Sir  Thomas  Hip- 
pesley  whispered  it  to  him  while  he  was  at  his  devo- 
tions. But  that  excellent  Prince  knew  too  well  the 
nature  of  the  duties  in  which  he  was  engaged,  to 
express  himself  at  the  moment,  and  restraining  his 
feelings,  he  continued  during  prayers  unmoved. 
But  no  sooner  was  the  service  ended,  than  retiring 
to  his  apartment,  he  threw  himself  on  his  couch, 
and  wept  at  the  unhappy  fate  of  his  minister. 
In  this  disconsolate  condition  he  continued  several 
days.  These  facts  refute  the  assertions  which  have 
been  made,  that  Charles  secretly  rejoiced  at  Buck- 
ingham's death,  as  setting  him  free  from  a  noble- 
man who  was  a  restraint  to  him,  and  unpopular 
with  his  subjects.  It  ought  to  be  remembered, 
that  the  seeming  apathy  which  the  King  mani- 
fested was  a  victory  over  his  natural  disposition, 
and  that  it  was  solely  a  real  regard  for  religion 
which  induced  him  to  avoid  an  interruption  of  the 
sacred  duties  in  which  he  was  engaged.  And  from 
the  attachment  which  the  King  displayed  towards  the 
family  and  friends  of  his  unfortunate  minister,  from 
the  scrupulous  exactness  with  which  he  discharged 
the  Duke's  numerous  debts,  contracted,  indeed, 


Strong  religious  phrensy,  a  curiosity  to  know  whether  his  re- 
venge had  been  gratified,  or  a  perturbed  mind,  probably  induced 
him  to  loiter  about  the  door. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  433 

for  his  service,  though  there  was  no  direct  evidence 
of  the  fact,  it  may  be  easily  conceived  how  far  the 
memory  of  this  great  man  was  esteemed  by  his 
grateful  master. 

Thus  fell,  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  prime  minister  to  Charles  I.  and 
the  favourite  of  two  monarchs.  Had  this  great  man 
lived  in  a  more  auspicious  age,  his  name  might 
have  been  recorded  by  historians  with  no  inconsi- 
derable praise,  but,  unfortunately,  he  was  calum- 
niated by  a  faction,  who  hated  the  King  and  those 
whom  he  favoured.  He  did  not  want  a  sure  friend 
in  Laud,  but  the  opposition  of  the  Puritan  zealots 
made  him  unguarded  and  passionate;  and  while 
he  frequently  consulted  that  prelate,  he  had  not 
sufficient  firmness  to  act  according  to  his  counsels. 
With  the  people  he  had  become  casually  popular 
by  promoting  the  war  with  Spain  and  France  ;  but 
the  Puritans,  who  swayed  the  mob,  and  who  pre- 
tended at  first  the  utmost  eagerness  for  that  war, 
turned  against  him,  as  they  did  against  Charles, 
and  blamed  him  for  much  which  they  themselves 
might  have  averted.  The  promoting  of  those  two 
wars  occasioned  his  ruin,  nor  did  his  enemies  cease 
to  pursue  him  till  the  moment  he  was  deprived  of 
his  life.  And  their  hatred  towards  this  great  man 
arose  from  the  evil  spirit  of  the  times,  the  venom  of 
which  increased  from  day  to  day,  till  at  length  the 
faction  corrupted  the  nation,  and  made  it  disgusted 
with  the  royal  government,  which  undeniably  was 

VOL.  i.  F  f 


434  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628, 

administered  with  greater  mildness  than  in  any 
former  reign.  His  generosity  was  great,  his  muni- 
ficence worthy  of  a  noble  disposition,  amounting  in 
many  cases  to  prodigality  :  he  was  sincere  in  his 
friendships  and  attachments,  implacable  in  his  enmi- 
ties, yet  in  the  latter  he  behaved  with  those  princi- 
ples of  honour  which  he  had  adopted,  inasmuch  as 
he  disdained  the  littleness  of  intriguing  hostility, 
but  rather  made  no  secret  of  his  hatred,  candidly 
informing  those  who  had  fallen  under  his  displea- 
sure that  he  was  their  enemy.  His  personal 
courage  was  also  undoubted,  and  Sir  Henry  Wotton 
assures  us,  that  in  the  Duke's  unfortunate  expedi- 
tion to  Rhe,  which  he  undertook  solely  to  recover 
his  popularity,  his  conduct  has  been  less  censured 
by  the  French  writers  than  by  our  own.  "  His  car- 
riage," says  that  writer,  "  was  noble  throughout ; 
respectful  to  the  gentlemen,  bountiful  to  the  soldiers, 
as  he  found  any  distinguished  worth  in  them  ;  ten- 
der and  careful  of  the  wounded  ;  his  personal  cou- 
rage unquestionable,  and  rather  fearful  of  fame  than 
danger."  These  are  qualities  which  abundantly 
counterbalance  the  failings  of  this  unfortunate  no- 
bleman, whose  greatest  faults  in  the  eyes  of  certain 
writers  are,  that  he  was  prime  minister  to  Charles  I. 
and  the  favourite  of  two  monarchs. 

Yet,  however  unpopular  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham was  during  his  life,  the  manner  of  his  death 
was  universally  detested,  and  many  sincerely  la- 
mented him  who  were  most  violently  opposed  to 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  435 

him l.  The  people  recollected  his  greatness  and  his 
splendour,  that,  in  the  midst  of  his  errors,  he  evinced 
a  nature  noble  and  generous,  and  they  detested  the 
barbarous  phrensy  which  had  generated  the  crimi- 
nal act.  These  feelings  resulted  from  that  conduct 
which  he  generally  displayed  as  recorded  by  the 
noble  historian,  that  "  he  was  of  a  most  flowing 
courtesy  and  affability  to  all  men  who  made  any 
address  to  him ;  and  so  desirous  to  oblige  them, 
that  he  did  not  consider  enough  the  value  of  the 
obligation,  or  the  merit  of  the  person  he  chose  to 
oblige,  from  which  much  of  his  misfortunes  re- 
sulted." His  bowels  were  interred  at  Portsmouth, 
by  his  favourite  sister,  the  Countess  of  Denbigh, 
who  there  erected  a  handsome  tablet  to  his  me- 
mory: but  his  body  was  brought  to  London,  and 

1  All  the  seditious  poets  among  the  Puritans  set  to  work  on 
the  occasion  of  the  Duke's  death,  and  endeavoured  to  display 
their  wit  in  the  way  of  satire.  The  following  stanzas,  though 
by  no  means  despicable,  written  by  a  person  unknown,  seem 
to  be  of  this  description.  They  are  transcribed  from  Parlia- 
ment. Collect.  1620—1628.  Lansdowne  MSS.  198. 

"  Some  say  the  Duke  was  gracious,  virtuous,  good, 
And  basely  Felton  did  to  spill  his  blood ; 
If  that  be  true,  what  did  he  then  amisse 
In  sending  him  the  sooner  to  his  blisse  ? 
Pale  death  is  pleasing  to  a  good  man's  eye, 
And  nolle  but  bad  men  are  afraid  to  die. 
Left  he  this  kingdom  to  a  passage  better  ? 
Why,  then,  Felton  hath  made  the  Duke  his  debtor." 

Also,  the  Sloane  MSS.  Collect.  Pier.  Histor.  826,  where  there 
are  some  very  amusing  effusions. 

F   f  2 


43G  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628, 

having  lain  in  state  for  some  days,  it  was  publicly 
conveyed  to  Westminster  Abbey,  and  sumptuously 
interred  on  the  north  side  of  Henry  the  Seventh's 
Chapel,  where  a  noble  monument  is  erected  to  his 
memory l. 

The  news  of  Buckingham's  death  reached  Lon- 
don on  the  following  day  after  his  assassination. 
Dn  Richard  Montague,  whom  the  Parliamentary 
faction  had  persecuted  on  account  of  his  alleged 
Popery  and  Arminianism,  had  been  presented  by 
the  King  to  the  See  of  Chichester,  and  preparations 
were  accordingly  making  at  this  very  time  for  his 
consecration,  at  which  Laud  was  to  assist  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  with  some  other  prelates. 
At  the  Court  of  Arches  in  Bow  Church,  Cheapside, 
during  the  confirmation  of  the  Bishops  elect,  pub- 


1  Sir  Henry  Wotton's  Life  of  Buckingham,  ed.  1642.  Echard's 
History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  69.  Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa, 
p.  523.  The  following  is  part  of  the  monumental  inscription. 
"  Siste,  viator,  et,  quod  ipsa  invidia  sugillare  nequit,  audi.  Hie 
est  ille,  quern  reges  adamarunt,  optimates  honorarunt,  ecclesia 
deflevit,  vulgus  oderunt.  Quern  Jacobus  et  Carolus  regum  per- 
spicacissimi  intimum  habuerunt ;  a  quibus  honoribus  auctus  et 
negotiis  onustus,  fato  succubuit  antequam  par  animo  periculum 
invenit.  Quid  jam  peregrine  ?  Enigma  mundo  moritur  ;  omnia 
fuit,  necquidquam  habuit.  Patriae  parens  et  hostis  audit.  De- 
liciae  idem  et  querela  parliaments  Qui,  dum  Papistis  bellum 
infert,  insimulatur  Papista.  Dum  Protestantum  partibus  con- 
sulit,  occiditur  a  Protestante.  Tessaram  specta  rerum  huma- 
narum.  At  non  est  quod  serio  triumphet  malitia :  interimere 
potuit,  laedere  non  potuit,  scil.  has  preces  fundens  expiravit,- — 
Tuo  ego  sanguine  potior,  mi  Jesu,  dum  mali  pascuntur  meo." 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  137 

lie  notice  is  given  concerning  those  who  are  to  be 
consecrated  in  the  province  of  Canterbury,  that  if 
any  objections  can  be  urged  against  the  election, 
these  must  be  intimated  on  a  certain  day.     This 
intimation  being  duly  given  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Mon- 
tague, an   enthusiast,  named  Jones,  a  bookseller, 
appeared  at  the  head  of  a  rabble  on  the  confirma- 
tion day,  and  tendered  his  objections  against  the 
consecration  of  the  new  bishop.     He  declared  that 
Montague  was  unqualified  and  unfit  to  become  a 
Bishop  because  he  defended  Popery,  Arminianism, 
and  on  account  of  some  other  visionary  points  which 
he  alleged  against  him.  These  would  have  necessarily 
caused   some  delay,  but  it   fortunately  happened 
that  Brent,  the  vicar-general  of  the  province,  had 
devolved  his  office  for  that  day  on  Dr.  Thomas 
Reeves,  whose  management  disappointed  the  Puri- 
tan enthusiasm.     Jones,  in  his  zeal  to  oppose  Dr. 
Montague,  had  neglected  to  prefer  his  charges  in 
the  manner  prescribed  by  law,  and  the  writing  being 
therefore  as  illegal  as  the  charges  were  unfounded 
and  fallacious,  it  was  not  received  by  the  court. 
Two  days  after  Montague  was  consecrated  at  Croy- 
don  ;  Abbot  himself  officiating  in  conjunction  with 
Laud,  and  the  Bishops  of  Winchester,  Ely,  and  Car- 
lisle.    It  may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  Abbot 
did  not  assist  at  this  consecration  without  reluctance, 
as  he  knew  well  that  Montague's  opinions  were  by 
no  means  favourable  to  the  dogmas  of  Calvin.     But 
the  fact  of  his  assisting  at  the  consecration  of  a  man 
who  had  been  one  of  his  great  opponents,  and  in 


438  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

conjunction  with  Laud,  whom  he  heartily  hated,  is 
a  sufficient  proof  that  no  farther  objections  were 
ever  afterwards  urged  against  his  regularity1. 

Laud  was  at  Croydon,  as  he  himself  informs  us, 
when  he  heard  of  Buckingham's  melancholy  fate. 
On  the  30th  of  August  he  proceeded  to  London, 
"  to  meet  the  corpse  of  the  Duke,  which  that  night 
was  brought  to  London/'  and  on  this  occasion  he 
received  a  friendly  letter  from  the  King,  written,  he 
says,  with  his  Majesty's  own  hand.  The  grief  which 
he  felt  at  the  fate  of  his  noble  friend  is  pathetically 
and  sensibly  expressed  in  the  pious  prayers  which 
he  composed  on  that  occasion,  as  inserted  in  his 
Manual  of  Private  Prayers  and  Devotions  ;  and, 
perhaps,  the  enthusiast  Prynne  could  not  have  paid 
a  better  compliment  to  Laud,  than  when  he  tells  us 
that  the  prayers  composed  for  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, which  he  had  the  insolence  to  seize  among 
the  Bishop's  other  private  papers,  "  were  much 
used,  as  is  evident  by  the  fouling  of  the  leaves  with 
his  fingers ;"  and  that,  "  when  the  Duke  was  slaine, 
he  made  a  special  prayer  on  that  occasion,  much 
daubed  through  frequent  use  with  his  fingers2;" 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  745,  746.  Heylin,  p.  175, 
176.     Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.   i.  part  i.  p.   634,  635. 
Laud's  Diary,  p.  43.     Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  180. 

2  Breviat,  p.  14.     The  following  is  the  Prayer  which  excites 
Prynne's  indignation.     "  O  merciful  God,    thy  judgments  are 
often  secret,  always  just.     At  this  time  they  were  temporally 
heavy  upon  the  poor  Duke  of  Buckingham,  upon  me,  upon  all 
that  had  the  honour  to  be  near  him.     Lord,  thou  hast,  I  doubt 
not,  given  him  rest,  and  light,  and  blessedness  in  thee,  give  also, 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  439 

even  when  the  same  Prynne  adduces  these  facts  as 
proofs  that  he  was  a  "  professed  votary  and  crea- 
ture to.  the  Duke."  But  that  enthusiast,  while  he 
was  thus  unconsciously  bearing  testimony  to  Laud's 
private  worth,  had  not  penetration  enough  to  dis- 
cover that  he  could  riot  be  "  a  creature  to  the  Duke" 
after  the  death  of  that  nobleman  ;  and  the  candid 
mind  will  admire  that  fervent  piety,  which  the 
Bishop's  private  life  more  and  more  unfolds,  which 
induced  him  to  retire  to  his  closet,  while  surrounded 
with  worldly  splendour,  humble  himself  before  God, 
and  record  those  events,  that  they  might  enable 
him  never  to  forget  his  dependence  on  the  Divine 
Being. 

On  the  9th  of  September  Laud  went  to  court, 
his  first  visit  after  the  death  of  his  friend.  The  King 
received  him  with  more  than  his  wonted  affection ; 
and  as  we  find  him  recording  in  his  Diary  a  notice 
of  the  "  gracious  speech  which  the  King  that  night 
was  pleased  to  address  to  him,"  it  is  highly  probable 

I  beseech  thee,  the  comfort  to  his  lady,  bless  his  children, 
uphold  his  friends,  forget  not  his  servants,  lay  open  the  bottom 
of  all  that  irreligious  and  graceless  plot  that  spilt  his  blood. 
Bless  and  preserve  the  King  from  danger,  and  in  security  in 
these  dangerous  times.  And  for  myself,  O  Lord,  though  the 
sorrows  of  my  heart  are  enlarged  in  that  thou  gavest  this  most 
honoured  friend  unto  my  bosom,  and  hast  taken  him  again  from 
me,  yet  blessed  be  thy  name.  O  Lord,  thou  hast  given  me 
patience.  I  shall  now  see  him  no  more  till  we  meet  at  the  re- 
surrection. O  make  that  joyful  to  us,  and  all  thy  faithful  ser- 
vants. Even  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.  Amen." 


440  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

that  Charles  confirmed  what  he  had  already  ex- 
pressed by  letter,  that  he  intended  to  entrust  him 
with  his  confidence  in  the  room  of  Buckingham  *. 
His  firm  attachment  to  the  crown,  and  his  zeal  for 
the  Church,  were  sufficient  recommendations  ;  while 
at  the  same  time  his  uniform  conduct  in  good  and 
evil  report  evinced  that  conscious  integrity  of  prin- 
ciple which  even  his  enemies  could  not  deny 2. 

On  the  first  day  of  October,  the  Parliament,  which 
was  to  meet  on  the  20th  of  that  month,  was  farther 
prorogued  to  the  20th  of  January  following.  Fel- 
ton,  in  the  mean  time,  remained  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  whither  he  had  been  brought 
from  Portsmouth,  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  he  had 
acted.  His  residence  there  excited  a  considerable 
sensation,  and  many  went  to  behold  the  man  who 
had  been  so  resolute  as  to  dispatch  the  most  power- 
ful nobleman  in  the  nation.  As  it  was  generally 
reported  that  he  was  suborned  by  the  faction  who 
opposed  the  Duke,  many  persuasions  were  used  to 
induce  him  to  confess ;  but  he  persisted  in  declaring 
that  the  act  was  his  own,  and  that  he  had  been 
solely  stimulated  to  it  by  perusing  the  Remon- 
strance of  the  Commons  3. 

1  Heylin,  p.  177.     Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  637. 

2  Sir  Edward  Bering,  his  bitter  enemy,  testified,  "  that  he 
was  always  one  and  the  same  man, — that  beginning  with  him  at 
Oxford,  and  so  going  on  to  Canterbury,  he  was  unmoved  and 
unchanged — that  he  never  complied  with  the  times,  but  kept 
his  own  stand  till  the  times  came  up  to  him." 

8  Laud  has  been  most   unjustly  charged  by  Prynne,  with 


1628.]  '  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  441 

The  assassin  was  examined  by  the  Council,  and 
many  solicitations  were  employed  to  draw  from  him 
a  confession,  whether  the  Puritan  faction,  through 
the  medium  of  their  leaders,  had  suborned  him  to 
commit  the  crime ;  but  Felton  resolutely  denied  that 
they  had  any  knowledge  of  his  intentions.  He  was 
threatened  by  Laud,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Council,  with  the  rack,  if  he  would  not  confess  ;  but 
he  calmly  replied,  that  if  it  must  be  so,  he  could  not 
tell  whom  he  might  mention  in  the  extremity  of 
torture ;  and  if  what  he  said  then  was  to  be  held  as 
truth,  he  might  perhaps  name  his  lordship,  or  some 
other  of  their  lordships  then  present. 

But  Laud  has  not  escaped  censure  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  has  been  insinuated,  that  he  prevailed  on 
the  King  to  ask  the  judges,  whether,  by  law,  Felton 
could  not  be  put  on  the  rack ;  to  which  they  re- 
turned an  answer,  that,  by  the  laws  of  England, 
Felton  could  not  be  racked.  Now,  while  this  fact 
is  true  in  itself,  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence 
that  Laud  had  any  thing  to  do  with  this  advice  more 

writing  the  answer  of  the  King  to  this  seditious  remonstrance, 
as  if  he  had  been  the  original  writer.  If  Laud  wrote  it  at  all, 
which,  as  there  is  no  authority  save  Prynne,  may  be  doubted, 
though  that  enthusiast  pretends  he  found  a  transcript  of  it  in 
the  Archbishop's  study,  he  is  not  to  be  charged  with  the  odium 
which  even  modern  Puritans  would  attach  to  him  on  that  account. 
But  the  candid  reader  of  that  seditious  and  fanatical  remon- 
strance will  at  once  perceive  the  absurdity  of  the  positions  it 
assumes,  and  he  will  not  blame  Laud,  though  he  might  have 
written  the  few  mutilated  sentences  which  Prynne  has  inserted 
in  his  Breviat. 


442  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [162&. 

than  the  other  members  of  the  Privy  Council. 
Though  there  is  no  proof  that  the  Puritan  faction 
had  any  concern  in  the  Duke's  assassination,  yet  it 
must  be  confessed  that  it  did  look  a  little  suspici- 
ous ;  especially  because  Felton  himself  admitted,  that 
the  Commons'  Remonstrance  had  stimulated  him  to 
the  crime,  and  this,  too,  after  the  King's  answer 
had  been  known,  which  Prynne,  speaking  in  the 
language  of  the  faction,  calls  Laud's  "  saucy  and 
scandalous  false  answer/'  as  written  by  him :  and 
we  know  well,  that  the  Puritan  zealots  were  loud 
in  their  murmurs,  inasmuch  as  they  had  just  charged 
the  Duke  with  being  the  cause  of  the  national  mis- 
fortunes ;  and  then,  secondly,  because  he  was  to 
be  prayed  for  in  London  on  the  following  day, 
which  was  Sunday,  as  one  discontented  in  mind. 
Felton  persisted  in  declaring  that  the  act  was  his 
own;  and,  from  the  gloomy  religious  phrensy  of 
Puritanism  which  he  seems  to  have  cherished  at 
the  time,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  he 
spoke  the  truth.  But  Laud  might  very  naturally 
(for  indeed  the  notion  was  general)  indulge  at  first 
the  belief  or  conviction,  that  some  of  the  seditious 
members  of  the  Parliament,  or  leaders  of  the  Puri- 
tans, were  privy  to  the  murder,  if  not  accomplices. 
Nor  is  he  to  be  charged  with  offering  an  advice  of 
that  nature  to  the  King,  even  when  his  own  mind 
was  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the  fate  of  a  noble- 
man who  was  his  friend,  since  there  is  no  evidence 
of  the  fact,  and  since  there  is  not  the  slightest  notice 
taken  of  the  particulars,  save  of  the  Duke's  death, 

7 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  443 

and  by  whom  it  was  committed,  in  the  Diary ; 
though  in  that  work,  which  he  never  supposed  would 
be  published,  he  has  inserted  observations  on  which 
his  enemies  have  put  worse  constructions. 

Yet,  that  there  seems  to  have  been  some  plot 
in  contemplation  against  the  Duke  is  evident,  from 
the  expressions  of  the  people,  before  the  assassina- 
tion, though  I  admit  that  Felton's  act  was  his  own, 
and  though  these  very  people  pitied  the  Duke,  and 
detested  the  murderer,  who  would  have  rejoiced  to 
have  seen  the  former  led  to  the  scaffold,  or  at  least 
doomed  to  disgrace.  For,  after  the  sanction  of  the 
famous  Petition  of  Right,  it  was  generally  wished 
that  the  Duke  should  be  sent  to  the  Tower,  and 
some  were  even  ready  to  pull  down  the  old  scaffold 
on  Tower-hill,  declaring  that  his  Grace  should  have 
a  new  one.  Not  long  after,  a  retainer  of  the 
Duke's,  Dr.  Lamb,  was  attacked  in  the  streets  of 
London,  and  so  barbarously  treated,  that  he  died 
the  next  day,  while  the  rioters  declared,  that  were 
his  master  the  Duke  there,  they  would  give  him  as 
much l.  For  this  riot,  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen 
were  fined  6000/.  and  threatened  with  the  loss  of 
their  charter,  if  they  did  not  bring  the  rioters  to 
punishment 2. 

1  Collect.  Pier.  Hist.  Sloane  MSS.  826. 

a  Echard's  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  65.  "  The  Duke's 
picture  fell  down  in  the  High  Commission  Chamber  at  Lambeth, 
which  being  related  to  Lady  Davis,  as  foreboding  some  fatality 
to  the  Duke,  she  replied,  No,  his  time  is  not  come  till  August." 
Echard,  ut  sup. 


444  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

But  the  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  the  Council 
debated  on  Felton's  punishment  generally,  whether, 
by  the  law  of  the  land,  the  prisoner  could  be 
racked :  and  the  King  being  present,  commanded 
the  opinion  of  the  judges  to  be  taken  on  the  sub- 
ject, who,  of  course,  denied  that  the  rack  could  be 
employed.     Nor  in  this  debate  was  there  any  seve- 
rity, for  it  must  be  remembered,  that  every  circum- 
stance had  hitherto  tended  to  confirm  the  suspicion 
that  the  Duke's  parliamentary  enemies  were  privy 
to  it,  and  the  Council  had  only  Felton's  pledge, 
who,  perhaps,  might  have  persisted  in  his  denial 
from  obstinacy.     But  to  have  allowed  a  faction, 
already  too  powerful,  to  exult  in  secret  at  the  as- 
sassination of  a  minister  of  the  crown,  while  only 
one  individual  appeared  as  the  murderer,  was  in- 
deed   to  encourage  that  daring  spirit  which  had 
been  too  often  manifested :  and,  therefore,  in  in- 
quiring whether  there  were  any  law  against  it,  "  if 
it  might  be  done  by  law,"  the  King  himself  ob- 
served, "  he  would  not  use  his  prerogative  on  that 
point."     Nevertheless,  Laud  cannot  be  blamed  for 
giving  advice,  as  an  individual,  though  there  is  no 
evidence  that  he  gave  any  advice  at  all.    The  matter 
was  publicly  debated  :  there  were  able  lawyers  in 
the  Council :  the  answer  was  as  publicly  returned  : 
and  hence  the  folly  of  that  remark,  that,  on  this 
occasion,  "  crown  law  was  more  favourable  than 
crown  divinity." 

On  the  27th  of  November,  Felton  was  removed 
from  the  Tower  to  the  Gatehouse  Prison,  and  on 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  445 

the  same  day  he  was  brought  by  the  sheriffs  of  Lon- 
don to  the  King's  Bench  for  his  trial.  He  admitted 
the  crime,  expressed  great  penitence,  and  even 
tendered  his  right  hand  to  be  cut  off,  which  had 
struck  the  fatal  blow.  This  request  was  refused  as 
illegal.  This  unfortunate  gentleman  was  executed 
at  Tyburn,  on  the  29th  of  November,  and  his  body 
thereafter  sent  to  Portsmouth,  where  it  was  "  hung 
up  in  chains,"  says  Rushworth,  "  in  manner  as  is 
usual  upon  notorious  murderers." 

But  while  Laud  was  thus  sedulously  employed 
in  affairs  of  state,  he  did  not  forget  Oxford,  the 
place  of  his  education.  That  venerable  and  splen- 
did seat  of  learning,  from  the  classic  retreats  of 
which  have  issued  men  whose  names  are  immortal, 
and  which,  with  Cambridge,  is  at  once  the  boast  and 
the  glory  of  England,  experienced  in  an  ample  man- 
ner the  fostering  care  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  her 
sons.  His  intentions  towards  his  University  were 
most  liberal  and  munificent,  but  it  was  necessary  that 
he  should  be  in  a  more  exalted  situation  before  he 
could  put  them  in  execution.  At  present,  however, 
Laud  did  a  signal  service  to  the  University.  At  the 
annual  election  of  the  Proctors,  the  most  factious 
and  tumultuary  conduct  was  frequently  exhibited, 
it  being  generally  carried  by  a  combination  of  the 
Colleges,  while  the  weaker  parties  were  in  the  habit 
of  seeking  votes  from  strangers  and  non-resident 
members.  The  Earl  of  Pembroke  was  at  this  time 
Chancellor,  and  he  had  issued  instructions  to  the 
University,  prohibiting  any,  save  resident  members, 


446  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

to  vote  in  the  election  to  the  proctorship.  But  the 
proctors  for  1627  delivered  a  formal  protest  against 
the  letter  of  their  Chancellor  ;  and  thus,  at  the  elec- 
tion of  1628,  the  usual  turbulence  and  rivalry  were 
exhibited.  But  Laud,  with  the  advice  of  the  King, 
determined  to  stop  such  proceedings  in  future.  For 
this  purpose  he  drew  up  statutes, which  fixed  the  elec- 
tion of  the  several  colleges  according  to  their  rotation, 
each  college  having  votes  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  members,  and  extent  of  the  foundation.  These 
statutes  were  passed  in  a  Convocation  at  Oxford 
without  a  single  dissenting  voice l.  He  also  caused 
the  ancient  but  mutilated  and  imperfect  statutes  of 
the  University,  which  had  lain  neglected  for  some  cen- 
turies, to  be  collected  and  arranged,  in  order,  as  he 
himself  says,  that  a  large  charter  might  be  procured 
for  Oxford,  "  to  confirm  the  ancient  privileges,  and 
obtain  new  ones  for  them,  as  extensive  as  those  of 
Cambridge,  which  they  had  got  since  Henry  VIII., 
which  Oxford  had  not2."  These  statutes  were 
printed,  and  published  in  Convocation  on  the  22d 
of  June,  16363.  This  zeal  for  the  advancement  of 
learning,  and  for  the  welfare  of  his  own  University, 
cannot  be  too  highly  commended,  more  especially 
when  we  recollect  that  this  was  done  amidst  his 
numerous  other  avocations ;  when,  in  fact,  he  lite- 
rally had  the  care  of  the  Church  of  England  on  his 
shoulders.  Yet  such  was  the  fanatical  malevolence 


1  Diary,  p.  43,  44.     Heylin's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  183, 

2  Diary,  p.  68,  69.  *  Ibid.  p.  53. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  417 

of  the  enemies  of  this  truly  great,  man,  that  at  his 
illegal  and  disgraceful  trial,  the  above  conduct  was 
actually  charged  against  him  as  one  of  the  enormous 
crimes  for  which  he  was  impeached,  inasmuch  as 
he  took  upon  himself  the  office  of  "  universal  law- 
giver." But  Laud  replied  to  this  allegation  with 
his  accustomed  dignity.  "  No,  my  Lords,"  said  he, 
"  the  great  necessities  of  the  University  called  upon 
me  for  it.  These  statutes  lay  in  a  miserably  con- 
fused heap  :  when  any  difficulty  arose,  they  knew 
not  where  to  look  for  remedy  or  direction.  Then 
into  the  convocation-house,  and  make  a  new  sta- 
tute ;  and  that  many  times  proved  contrary  to  an 
old  one  concerning  the  same  business.  Men,  in  the 
mean  time,  were  sworn  to  both,  which  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  kept  together.  By  this  means  perjury  was 
unavoidable ;  and  themselves  confess  in  their  regis- 
ter, (which  is  now  in  court,)  that  till  this  was  clone, 
they  did  in  a  sort  swear  that  they  might  be  for- 


sworn V 


Nor  was  this  all  that  Laud  did  for  the  University 
of  Oxford.  In  1628,  he  procured  two  hundred  and 
forty  Greek  Manuscripts  for  the  Public  Library, 
which  he  induced  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  to  pur- 
chase and  present  to  the  University,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Roe,  the  celebrated  ambassador  of  King 
James  to  the  Great  Mogul,  generously  sent  him 
twenty-eight  manuscripts  in  Greek,  for  the  same 
University,  which  that  statesman  had  collected 

1  Troubles  and  Trials,  p.  304. 


448  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

at  a  great  expence  during  his  residence  in  the 
East '. 

But  while  Laud  was  thus  employed  in  advancing 
the  interests  of  learning  in  the  University  of  which 
he  was  the  distinguished  ornament,  he  was  no  less 
sedulously  attentive  to  the  Church.  His  situation 
as  Bishop  of  London  gave  him  an  influence  which 
perhaps  he  would  not  otherwise  have  possessed, 
while  his  being  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council,  and 
in  favour  with  his  Sovereign,  enabled  him  to  employ 
that  influence  for  the  best  purposes.  In  order  that 
he  might  at  once  put  a  stop  to  the  disturbances 
which  arose  from  the  preaching  of  the  abstruse  and 
mystical  doctrines  of  predestination,  in  the  preach- 
ing of  which,  as  the  Church  historian  well  remarks, 
"  many  both  lost  themselves,  and  bewildered  their 
hearers ;"  he  procured  a  royal  declaration  to  be 
prefixed  to  the  Articles,  prohibiting  all  persons  who 
were  under  the  degree  of  a  bishop,  and  who  were 
priests  of  the  Church  of  England,  administering  the 
holy  sacraments,  to  misconstrue  these  Articles,  or 
pervert  them  from  their  literal  and  grammatical 
sense  to  support  the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  or  of  any 
individual  whatever 2. 

This  Declaration,  highly  necessary  at  every  period 
when  men  are  resolved  to  strain  language  to  sup- 
port their  individual  theories,  but  more  especially  so 
in  this  age  of  sectarian  enthusiasm,  is  termed  by  the 

1  Diary,  p.  44.     Heylin,p.  183.     Regist.  Cancel.  Laud. 

2  Heylin,  p.  178,  179.  as  referring  to  Bib.  Reg.  §  4.  No.  III. 
Neat's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p,  188, 189. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  419 

Puritan  historian,  the  most  "  confused,  unintelligi- 
ble declaration  ever  printed  ;"  which  does  not  say 
much  in  favour  of  that  writer's  common  sense  and 
perception  if  he  did  not  understand  it,  though,  by 
the  way,  he  has  so  miserably  garbled  it  in  his  Puri- 
tan history,  that  he  has  contributed  his  share  to 
make  it  unintelligible.  But  yet  he  contradicts  him- 
self, as  usual,  in  the  very  next  sentence ;  for  he  says, 
that  "  the  Calvinistic  divines  understood  the  King's 
intention,"  which  they  could  not  have  done,  though 
they  were  endowed  with  extraordinary  powers,  if 
the  said  declaration  had  been  "  confused  and  unin- 
telligible." It,  of  course,  alarmed  the  Calvinistic 
enthusiasts.  They  declaimed  against  it  as  contain- 
ing the  "  depths  of  Satan,"  as  being  a  "  Jesuitical 
plot  to  subvert  the  gospel,"  an  "  encouragement 
and  opportunity  for  Arminians  here  to  sow  their 
tares,  and  propagate  their  erroneous  doctrines,"  as 
tending  to  suppress  all  "  orthodox  books,"  and  to 
discourage  "  all  godly  and  painful  ministers  :"  in 
other  words,  books  full  of  sedition,  which  pretended 
to  discuss  predestination  and  reprobation,  though  in 
reality  their  authors  made  those  dogmas  much  worse 
than  they  were  before ;  and  "  godly  painful  minis- 
ters," that  is,  enthusiasts  who  edified  their  hearers 
by  those  very  tenets,  who,  hurried  away  by  their 
visionary  notions  of  faith,  and  implicitly  believing 
in  Calvin's  inspiration,  preached  openly  against  and 
denounced  every  one  who  did  not  agree  with  them. 
Moreover,  they  presented  a  petition  against  this 

declaration  to  the  King,  in  which  they  complained 

.?n»*  ^u  t&OT  * 

VOL.  I.  G 


450  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [L628. 

that  they  were  deterred  by  this  restraint  from 
preaching  "  those  SAVING  doctrines  of  God's  free 
grace  in  election  and  predestination,  which  greatly 
confirm  our  faith  of  eternal  salvation,  and  fer- 
vently kindle  our  love  to  God;"  and/ consequently, 
that  "  it  will  of  necessity  bring  utter  ruin  to  the 
state  by  the  too  bold  and  frequent  disciples  and  fol- 
lowers of  that  enemy  of  God,  Arminius 1  /" 

It  may  readily  be  questioned,  whether  craftiness, 
ignorance,  or  folly,  preponderated  among  those  who 
set  forth  this  petition.  The  King,  however,  never 
saw  it,  as  it  was  suppressed  on  account  of  its  lan- 
guage by  the  ministers  of  state2;  but  it  was  not 
forgotten  when  the  Parliament  assembled.  In  the 
interval  between  the  sessions,  Dr.  Montague's  work, 
entitled,  "  Appello  ad  CaBsarem,"  and  Dr.  Man- 
waring's  sermons,  were  suppressed  by  proclama- 
tion 3 ;  but  this  instance  of  sincerity  and  candour 
on  the  part  of  the  King,  the  Puritan  historian,  with 
his  usual  charity,  declares  "  was  only  a  feint  to 
cover  a  more  deadly  blow  to  be  reached  at  the 
Puritans  *." 

It  is  surprising  that  the  date  of  this  Declaration 
has  been  made  the  subject  of  misrepresentation  and 

1  Prynne's  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  164,  165.     Neal,  vol.  ii. 
p.  189,  190. 

2  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  746,  747.    Heylin,  p.  180. 
Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  190. 

3  Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  747.     Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  633,   634, 
Prynne's  Cant.  Doome,  p.    101.     The  King's   Proclamation, 
Sloane  MSS.  826. 

4  Neal,  ut  sup. 


1628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  451 

dispute.  One  writer  informs  us,  that  "  the  Articles 
were  again  ratified  by  King  James  II.  in  these 
words,  (the  Declaration  prefixed  in  1628,)  which 
are  commonly  prefixed  to  them  1 ;"  and  another 
maintains  that  the  distress  of  James  is  exhibited  in 
the  "  quibbling  and  equivocal  terms  in  which  the 
Declaration  was  drawn,  thus  divided  between  his 
principles  and  his  interest 2."  The  fact  is,  that  the 
champions  for  the  Calvinistic  interpretation  of  the 
Articles  maintain  that  this  Declaration  was  issued 
not  by  Charles  but  by  James,  for  a  very  natural 
reason,  because  they  well  knew  that  Calvinism, 
during  James's  reign,  was  prevalent  in  the  Church. 
Bishop  Burnet  expressly  ascribes  the  Declaration  of 
1628  to  Charles 3,  and  so  does  Dr.  Henry  Ham- 
mond, who  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Sanderson  concern- 
ing God's  grace  and  decrees,  assigns  a  reason 
"  both  of  our  Church's  moderation  in. framing  the 
Article  of  Predestination,  and  of  our  late  King's 
Declaration  in  silencing  the  debate  of  the  ques- 
tion. For  if  by  these  methods/'  says  this  truly 
learned  theologian,  "  the  Church  could  but  have 
prevailed  to  have  the  dissensions  of  the  several  pre- 
tenders forgotten,  all  men  contenting  themselves, 
as  our  Article  prescribes,  with  the  promises  of 
God  as  they  are  declared  in  Scripture,  (which 
surely  are  universal  and  conditionate,  not  absolute 
and  particular,)  the  turmoil  and  heat,  and  imper- 

1  Dr.  Burn.  2  Confessional. 

3  Bishop  Bin-net's  Hist.  vol.  i.  fol.  edit. 
G    g2 


452  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

tinences  of  disputes  had  been  prevented,  which 
now  goes  for  an  engagement  in  God's  cause,  the 
hare  fervour  and  zeal  in  which  is  taken  in  commu- 
tation for  much  other  piety,  by  many  the  most 
eager  contenders.  The  doctrines  being  deemed 
doctrines  of  God,  are  counted  evidences  of  sanctified 
men,  and  fix  the  censure  of  carnality  on  opposers, 
and  from  hence  come  bitter  envyings,  railings,  and 
at  least  evil  surmising s,  and  these  are  most  con- 
trary to  the  outward  peace  of  a  church  and  nation !." 
The  enthusiast  Prynne,  bears  testimony  that  this 
Declaration  was  affixed  by  Charles,  for  he  ascribes 
it  to  Laud  as  a  crime,  alleging  that  the  Declara- 
tion "  was  made  by  this  Bishop's  instigation  and 
procurement,  and  so  generally  reputed  not  only 
at  home,  but  abroad?  and  he  refers  to  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Barron  of  Aberdeen  to  Laud,  which,  he 
says,  was  found  in  Laud's  "  own  study,  endorsed 
with  his  own  hand,  dated  the  20th  of  April, 
1634  V'  And  that  this  Declaration  belongs  to  1628, 
is  farther  proved  by  Dr.  Winchester,  and  Dr.  Glou- 
cester Ridley3.  Nor  is  Heylin's  evidence  to  be 
disregarded,  for  he  lived  at  the  very  period.  Neal, 

1  Works  of  Dr.  Hammond,  folio,  London,  1684,  vol.  i. 
p.  670,  671.  Xapte  *cm  'Etprjj/rj,  or,  A  Pacific  Discourse  of  God's 
Grace  and  Decrees,  written  to  the  Rev.  and  most  learned  Dr. 
Robert  Sanderson. 

8  Prynne's  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  160. 

3  Dissert,  on  the  17th  Article,  and  the  "  Papers  ascertaining 
the  time  and  reign  in  which  the  Declaration  before  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  was  first  published."  London,  1803. 


J628.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  453 

moreover,  who  frequently  perverts  truth,  held  the 
same  opinion,  and  directly  charges  it  on  Laud,  say- 
ing, "  One  of  the  bishop's  first  attempts,  after  his 
translation  to  London,  was  to  stifle  the  Predestina- 
rian  controversy,  for  which  purpose  he  procured  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  to  be  reprinted,  with  the  fol- 
lowing Declaration  at  the  head  of  them  V  In  short, 
it  is  indisputable,  that  this  Declaration  was  passed 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  and  the  doubts  which 
have  been  started  only  prove  to  us  the  fact,  that 
men,  even  in  later  times,  will  frequently  attempt  to 
forget  facts  arid  dates,  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a 
party,  and  to  foster  their  individual  prejudices 2. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  the  Parliament  re-as- 
sembled, "  which  died  issueless,"  says  Fuller,  in  his 
own  happy  manner,  "  the  March  following,  leaving 
no  acts  (abortions  are  no  children)  completed  be- 
hind it 3."  Before  the  meeting,  the  King  had  en- 
dftavoured  to  reconcile  the  contending  parties.  A 
Priest,  named  Richard  Smith,  who  styled  himself 
Bishop  of  Chalcedon,  and  who  had  presumed  to 
exercise  Episcopal  functions  in  the  kingdom,  was 
prosecuted,  and  a  proclamation  issued  against 
priests  and  recusants.  Archbishop  Abbot  was  re- 
stored to  favour.  Dr.  Potter,  Provost  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  "  a  thorough-paced  Calvinian," 
says  Heylin,  was  promoted  to  the  Bishopric  of 

*  Neal's  History  of  tlie  Puritans,  vol.  ii.  p.  188. 

*  Vide  also  Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  746,  747.     Fuller's  Church 
History,  book  xi.  p.  141. 

3  Fuller,  ut  sup.  p.  132. 


454  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628. 

Carlisle,  vacant  by  the  translation  of  Dr.  White  to 
Norwich,  and  proclamations  had  been  issued  against 
Bishop  Montague's  "  Appello"  and  Dr.  Manwaring's 
Sermons  l.  These  measures,  it  might  have  been 
expected,  would  have  conciliated  the  people,  and 
allayed  their  enthusiasm  ;  but  the  spirit  of  faction 
had  been  busily  at  work,  and  every  action  of  the 
King  was  interpreted  to  the  monarch's  disad- 
vantage 2. 

But  while  the  King  was  thus  studiously  endea- 
vouring to  pursue  conciliatory  measures,  he  knew 

1  Several  distinguished  men  died  in  the  interval  before  the 
meeting  of  the  second  session  of  Parliament.  Besides  Dr. 
Toby  Matthews,  Archbishop  of  York,  already  mentioned,  died 
Dr.  George  Carleton,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  whom  Dr.  Mon- 
tague succeeded,  (Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  131.); 
Dr.  John  Preston,  one  of  the  heads  of  the  Puritan  faction, 
(Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  200 — 203.)  a  crafty  and  deep-preaching  poli- 
tician ;  Sir  Thomas  Ridley,  vicar-general  to  Archbishop  Abbot, 
(Echard,  vol.  i.  p.  72.) ;  Samuel  Purchas,  so  celebrated  for  -his 
collections  of  voyages  and  travels  that  he  has  been  called  the 
English  Ptolemy,  (Wood,  Fasti,  vol.  i.  col.  200,  edit.  1721.); 
Sir  John  Dodderidge,  a  celebrated  lawyer  and  judge,  ancestor 
of  the  famous  Nonconformist,  Dr.  Dodderidge,  (Wood,  Athen. 
Oxon.  vol.  i.  col.  519,  520.  Beatson's  Political  Index,  vol.  i. 
p.  409.  Parliamentary  History,  vol.  viii.  408.);  Sir  Fulk  Gre- 
ville,  Lord  Brooke,  (Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa,  p.  523,)  who 
was  assassinated  by  his  servant ;  and  Sir  John  Ley,  who,  for  his 
abilities,  and  by  his  own  merit,  was  created  Earl  of  Marlborough, 
Lord  High  Treasurer,  and  Lord  President  of  the  Council. 

1  Echard's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  71.  Heylin,  p.  184,  185. 
Collier,  vol.  ii.  p.  747.  Fuller,  book  xi.  p.  133.  Neal,  vol. 
ii.  p.  190.  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  154,  155.  645.  Whitelock's 
Memorials. 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  455 

well  the  danger  of  allowing  the  faction  to  obtain  the 
mastery,  nor  was  he  forgetful  of  his  own  faithful 
friends.  Sir  Richard  Weston,  who  had  long  served 
the  King,  was  made  Lord  Treasurer,  he  being  a  mi- 
nister acute  and  active,  and  able  to  serve  the  court 
on  emergence,  with  much  greater  ability  than  the 
Earl  of  Marlborough,  whom  he  succeeded.  Weston, 
whom  the  Puritan  historian  designates  a  "  noto- 
rious Papist,"  was  created  Earl  of  Portland,  and 
after  the  death  of  Buckingham  had  possessed  con- 
siderable influence.  In  order  to  strengthen  the 
royal  interest,  he  gained  over  to  the  King's  party 
the  celebrated  Sir  Thomas  W'entworth,  who  had 
co-operated  with  the  Puritans,  and  was  even  impri- 
soned, for  not  complying  with  the  loan.  This  great 
man,  better  known  by  his  title  of  Earl  of  Strafford, 
distinguished  alike  for  his  talents  and  for  his  future 
attachment  both  to  Church  and  State,  was  created 
Viscount  Wentworth,  and  Lord  President  of  the 
Northern  Circuits,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  con- 
tend with  success  against  the  Saville  family,  whose 
interest  was  considerable  in  Yorkshire,  and  also  to 
silence  Sir  John  Elliott,  with  whom  he  had  been 
long  at  variance,  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
attachment  of  Lord  Wentworth  to  the  King  is 
well  known.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  and 
Laud  commenced  a  friendship,  which  remained  in- 
violate until  death1. 

When  the  Commons  met,  it  was  expected,  since 

1  Echard,  vol.  i.  p.  71.     Heylin,  p.  184. 
7 


\      . 

456  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

the  old  cause  of  all  their  pretended  grievances,  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  had  been  removed,  that  the 
former  jealousies  and  animosities  of  the  House  would 
be  forgotten,  and  that  they  would  proceed  to  busi- 
ness as  became  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
But  it  was  soon  found,  that  they  resolved  to  com- 
mence where  they  ended  before  the  prorogation, 
and  accordingly  they  occupied  themselves  for  a 
week  in  remonstrating  with  the  King  about  the 
famous  Petition  of  Right,  before  they  could  apply 
themselves  to  their  favourite  subject  of  religion. 
After  receiving  a  speech  from  the  King  on  that  sub- 
ject, they  resolved  to  postpone  the  consideration  of 
the  question,  though  not  without  expressing  their 
disapprobation.  Conceiving  themselves  as  well  qua- 
lified to  decide  on  theology  as  on  law,  they  now 
turned  their  thoughts  to  religion  1. 

Their  virulence  was  first  directed  towards  Armi- 
nianism,  being  more  than  ordinarily  exasperated  by 
the  King's  Declaration  prefixed  to  the  Articles.  It 
is  lamentable  to  behold  men  in  a  summary  manner 
condemning  doctrines  of  which  they  were  utterly 
ignorant.  An  idea  may  be  easily  formed  of  the  theo- 
logical notions  of  the  House  of  Commons  from  the 
speeches  of  the  leading  enthusiasts  on  the  occasion. 
On  Monday,  the  26th  of  January,  1628-9,  the  de- 
bate commenced,  for  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  fac- 
tion that  it  had  not  begun  on  the  first  day  the 
House  met.  Francis  Rouse,  afterwards  Provost  of 

2  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  645. 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  457 

Eton,  author  of  a  work  entitled  Mella  Patrum1, 
and  Speaker  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  Parliament,  thus 
delivered  himself,  after  speaking  in  no  very  mea- 
sured language  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  "  I  desire 
that  we  may  consider  the  increase  of  Arminianism, 
an  error  that  makes  the  grace  of  God  lackey  it 
after  the  will  of  man  ;  that  makes  the  sheep  to  keep 
the  shepherd ;  and  makes  a  mortal  seed  of  an 
immortal  God.  Yea,  I  desire  that  we  may  look 
into  the  very  belly  and  bowels  of  this  Trojan  horse, 
to  see  if  there  be  not  men  in  it  ready  to  open  the 
gates  to  Romish  tyranny  and  Spanish  monarchy, 
for  an  Arminian  is  the  spawn  of  a  Papist ;  and 
if  there  come  the  warmth  of  favour  upon  him,  you 
shall  see  him  turn  into  one  of  those  frogs  that  rise 
out  of  the  bottomless  pit.  And  if  you  mark  it  well, 
you  shall  see  an  Arminian  reaching  out  his  hand  to 
a  Papist,  a  Papist  to  the  Jesuit,  a  Jesuit  gives  one 
hand  to  the  Pope,  and  another  to  the  King  of  Spain, 
and  these  men  have  kindled  a  fire  in  our  neighbour's 
country,  now  they  have  brought  over  some  of  it 
hither,  to  set  on  flame  this  kingdom  also :  yea,  let 

J  Besides  "  Mella  Patrum"  which  Rouse  published  in  1650, 
he  wrote  "  Archaeologia  Attica,  or  Attic  Antiquities,"  4to.  Oxf. 
1637.  "  Speech  before  the  Lords  against  Dr.  Cosins,  Dr. 
Manwaring,  and  Dr.  Beale,"  4to.  London,  1641.  "  Speech  in 
opposition  to  making  Dr.  Wisniff,  Dr.  Holsworth,  and  Dr.  King, 
Bishops,"  4to.  London,  1642.  "  The  Balme  of  Love  to  heal 
Divisions,"  4to.  London,  1648.  "  The  Mystical  Marriage  be- 
tween Christ  and  his  Church,"  12mo.  London,  1653.  "  To  all 
the  Faithful  Servants  of  Christ,"  4to.  London,  1654.  "  Inte- 
riora  Reghi  Dei,"  12mo.  London,  1655. 


458  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

us  search  further,  and  consider  whether  these  be  not 
the  men  who  break  in  upon  the  goods  and  liberties 
of  this  Commonwealth  ;  for  by  this  means  they  pre- 
pare to  deprive  us  of  our  religion  V  The  gross 
and  ignorant  falsehoods  of  this  fanatical  orator  were 
fortified  next  day  by  the  opinions  of  various  other 
sages,  especially  Sir  Robert  Philips,  Sir  Francis 
Seymour,  and  Pym,  the  last  of  whom  declared, 
when  the  report  of  their  committee  on  religion  was 
made  to  the  House,  that  there  were  two  diseases, 
"  the  one  old,  the  other  new :  the  old  Popery,  the 
new  Arminianism  :"  while  Philips  averred,  that 
"  two  sects  are  damnably  crept  in  to  undermine  the 
King  and  kingdom ;  the  one  ancient  Popery,  the 
other  new  Arminianism."  It  is  indeed  strange 
that  such  notorious  falsehoods  should  have  been 
seriously  uttered  in  the  English  House  of  Com- 
mons. Sir  John  Elliott,  Lord  Wentworth's  political 
opponent,  was  no  less  furious  than  his  other  friends. 
"  In  the  Declaration,"  said  he,  "  we  see  what  is  said 
of  Popery  and  Arminianism  ;  our  faith  and  religion 
are  in  danger  by  them,  for,  like  an  inundation,  they 
break  in  upon  us  at  once.  We  see  there  are  some 
among  our  bishops  who  are  not  orthodox,  nor  sound 
in  religion,  as  they  should  be ;  witness  the  two 
bishops  (Laud  and  Neile)  complained  of  at  the 
last  meeting  of  Parliament.  I  apprehend  much  fear, 
that,  should  we  be  in  their  power,  we  may  be  in 


1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  645,  646.     Neal,  vol.  ii. 
p.  191. 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  459 

danger  to  have  our  religion  overthrown.  Some 
of  these  are  masters  of  ceremonies,  and  they  labour 
to  introduce  new  ceremonies  into  the  Church  V 

The  enthusiasm  of  these  men  was  quickly  com- 
municated to  the  whole  House2,  and  they  proceeded 
to  pass  a  vote  against  the  King's  Declaration. 
"  We,  the  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled,  do 
claim,  protest,  and  avow  for  truth,  the  sense  of  the 
Articles  of  religion  which  were  established  by  Par- 
liament in  the  thirteenth  year  of  our  late  Queen 
Elizabeth,  which,  by  the  public  act  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  by  the  general  and  current  expo- 
sitions of  the  Articles  of  our  Church,  have  been 
delivered  unto  us.  And  we  reject  the  sense  of  the 
Jesuits  and  Arminians,  and  all  others,  wherein  they 
differ  from  us 3." 

1  He  made,  however,  a  remarkable  admission.     "Yet  some 
ceremonies,"  says  he,  "  are  useful.     Give  me  leave  to  join,  that 
I  hold  it  necessary  and  commendable,  that  at  the  repetition  of 
the  Creed  we  should  stand  up,  to  testify  the  resolution  of  our 
hearts  that  we  will  defend  the  religion  we  profess  ;  and  in  some 
churches  it  is  added,  that  they  did  not  only  stand  upright  with 
their  bodies,  but  with  their  swords  drawn." 

2  A  person  named  Lewis  was  complained  against,  for  saying 
in  common  conversation,    "  The  devil  take  the  Parliament" 
which  was  immediately  held  to   be  a  serious  offence,  and  he 
was  accordingly  cited  before  them.     What  punishment  those 
sage  legislators  thought  proper  to  inflict  for  this  criminal  remark, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  discover. 

3  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  649,  650.     Heylin,  p.  180.     Echard, 
vol.  i.  p.  75.     Prynne's  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  163.     Collier's 
Eccles.  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  747.     Ncal's  History  of  the  Puritans, 
vol.  ii.  p.  193. 


460  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9: 

Such  was  the  intolerance  of  the  Puritan  faction, 
and  indeed  it  is  hardly  possible  to  give  them  credit 
even  for  sincerity.  They  were  at  best  a  company 
of  secular  persons,  met  together  for  other  purposes, 
and  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  what  properly 
belonged  to  the  Convocation ;  but  since  they  did 
assume  to  themselves  the  office  of  "  learned  clerks," 
ought  they  not,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  recon- 
cile the  Articles  to  Calvinism  alone,  and  in  parti- 
cular, to  that  absurd  and  unscriptural  jargon,  the 
Lambeth  Articles,  happily  exploded  from  the  Church, 
to  have  first  examined  the  Arminian  interpretation 
of  the  divine  decrees,  and  considered  whether  it 
was  not  more  agreeable  to  Holy  Scripture,  than 
the  tenets  of  John  Calvin,  as  founded  on  the  mys- 
tical positions  of  St.  Augustine  ?  Had  they  done 
this,  instead  of  displaying  their  fiery  zeal  for  Cal- 
vinism, they  would  have  acted  in  a  manner  praise- 
worthy and  commendable,  without  first  arrogating 
to  themselves  a  power  to  which  they  were  not  enti- 
tled, and  then  forcing  a  construction  on  language 
which  it  would  not  bear l. 

1  On  this  subject  the  Puritan  historian  comments  in  the  most 
absurd  manner.  He  denies  that  the  Commons  made  a  new  in- 
terpretation of  the  Articles,  whereas  the  fact  of  determining 
them  to  be  Calvinistic  proves  that  they  did.  In  reply  to  Laud's 
question,  If  a  sense  or  interpretation  be  declared,  what  autho- 
rity have  laymen  to  make  it  ?  Neal  says,  "  The  same  that  they 
had  in  the  1 3th  of  Elizabeth,  to  establish  them  as  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church."  Now,  though  he  refers  to  Collier,  and  dissents, 
of  course,  from  that  learned  historian,  he  has  not  refuted  what 
that  writer  has  advanced, — that  neither  the  sense  of  the  Articles 


1628-9. J  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  461 

It  must  be  remembered,  that  this  "  vow"  was  no 
act  of  Parliament.  Nay,  they  unconsciously  admit 
that  they  had  no  authority  to  settle  the  contro- 
versy, for  they  say,  "  We  vow  for  truth  the  sense 
of  the  Articles  which  were  established  by  Parlia- 
ment, in  the  13th  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 
Now,  in  their  haste  "  to  do  the  work  of  the  Lord 
diligently,"  as  they  described  this  conduct,  by  neg- 
lecting other  duties,  they  completely  lost  them- 
selves, for  the  expression  of  individual  opinion  only 
in  a  legislative  body  in  reality  implies  a  want  of 
power.  But  it  is  no  less  remarkable,  that  amid 
the  general  joy  manifested  by  the  Calvinistic  party 
on  this  occasion,  the  protest  being  reckoned  by 
them  a  kind  of  prodigy,  it  was  thought  to  be  more 
doubtful  and  sophistical,  and  an  excuse  for  greater 
latitude  of  interpretation,  than  had  been  ever  ex- 
hibited by  any  previous  expounder. 

There  can  be  nothing  of  greater  importance  in 
religion  than  truth,  nor  should  the  seeker  of  it  be 
restrained  by  any  dicta,  however  great,  or  powerful. 

nor  the  Articles  themselves,  were  established  either  by  that  Par- 
liament, or  in  any  other — that  there  was  no  committee  of  reli- 
gion "appointed  to  examine  the  orthodoxy  of  these  credenda, 
or  any  resolution  of  the  House  upon  this  report," — and  that 
"  the  design  of  the  statute  was  only  to  provide  against  non-con- 
formity, for  which  purpose  the  clergy  are  obliged  to  subscribe 
the  Articles,  and  read  them  in  their  parish  Churches."  Our 
Puritan  writer,  on  the  contrary,  embraces  the  opportunity  to 
display  his  reasoning  powers  against  Bishop  Laud ;  and  what  do 
his  absurd  queries  amount  to  ?  Parturiunt  monies,  ridiculus 
mus  nctscitttr. 


462  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

Laud  saw  the  error  of  those  enthusiasts,  and  he 
alone  had  courage  to  comment  on  this  extraordinary 
protest.  He  saw  that  their  protest  was  virtually  a 
challenge,  as  Prynne  himself  calls  it,  to  the  King, 
nor  did  he  allow  it  to  pass  unnoticed.  "  This  prag- 
matical Bishop,"  says  Prynne,  "  returned  this  bold 
peremptory  answer,  written  with  his  own  hand." 
"  1.  The  public  acts  of  the  Church,"  says  Laud,  "  in 
matters  of  doctrine  are  canons  and  acts  of  councils, 
as  well  for  expounding  as  determining ;  the  acts  of 
the  High  Commission  are  not  in  this  sense  public  acts 
of  the  Church ;  nor  the  meeting  of  few  or  more  bishops 
extra  concilium,  unless  they  be  of  lawful  authority 
called  to  that  work,  and  their  decision  approved  by 
the  Church.  2.  The  current  exposition  of  writers 
is  a  strong  probable  argument,  de  censu  canonis 
Ecclesice  velArticuli,yet  but  probable :  the  current 
exposition  of  the  fathers  themselves  hath  sometimes 
missed  Sensum  Ecclesice.  3.  Will  you  reject  all 
sense  of  Jesuits  and  Arminians  ?  May  not  some  be 
true  ?  May  not  some  be  agreeable  to  our  writers, 
and  yet  in  a  way  that  is  stronger  than  ours  to  con- 
firm the  Article  ?  4.  Is  there  by  this  Act  any  inter- 
pretation made  or  declared  of  the  Articles,  or  not  ? 
If  none,  to  what  end  the  act  ?  If  a  sense  or  inter- 
pretation be  declared,  what  authority  have  laymen 
to  make  it  ?  for  interpretation  of  an  article  belongs 
to  them  only  that  have  power  to  make  it.  5.  It  is 
manifest  there  is  a  sense  declared  by  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  act  says,  We  avow  the  Article, 
and  in  that  sense,  and  all  others  that  agree  not  with 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  4-63 

us  in  the  aforesaid  sense  we  reject,  (these  and  these 
go  about  misinterpretation  of  a  sense  ;  ergo,  there 
is  a  declaration  of  a  sense,  yea,  but  it  is  not  a  new 
sense  declared  by  them,  but  they  avow  the  old  sense 
declared  by  the  Church,  the  public  authentic  acts 
of  the  Church,  &c.)  yea,  but  if  there  be  no  such 
public  authentic  acts  of  the  Church,  then  here  is  a 
sense  of  their  own  declared  under  the  pretexts  of  it. 
6.  It  seems  against  the  King's  Declaration;  that  says 
first,  we  shall  take  the  general  meaning  of  the  Arti- 
cle :  this  act  restrains  them  to  consent  of  writers ; 
that  says  second,  the  Article  shall  not  be  drawn 
aside  any  way,  but  that  we  shall  take  it  in  the  lite- 
ral and  grammatical  sense  :  this  act  ties  us  to  con- 
sent of  writers,  which  may,  and  perhaps  do,  go 
against  the  literal  sense  ;  for  here  is  no  exception, 
so  we  shall  be  perplexed,  and  our  consent  required 
to  things  contrary.  7.  All  consent- in  all  ages,  as 
far  as  I  have  observed,  to  an  article  or  canon,  is  to 
itself  as  it  is  laid  down  in  the  body  of  it,  and  if  it 
bear  more  senses  than  one,  it  is  lawful  for  any  man 
to  choose  what  sense  his  judgment  directs  him  to, 
so  that  it  be  a  sense  secundum  analogiam  fidei, 
and  that  he  hold  it  peaceably,  without  distracting 
the  Church,  and  this  till  the  Church  that  made  the 
article  determine  a  sense :  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Church  hath  been  in  all  ages,  or  in  most,  to  re- 
quire consent  to  articles  in  general,  as  much  as 
may  be,  because  that  is  the  way  of  unity  ;  and  the 
Church,  in  high  points,  requiring  assent  to  parti- 


464  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

culars,  hath  been  rent,  as,  De  Transubstantiatione," 
fcc1. 

These  remarks  by  Laud  on  the  protest  of  the 
Commons,  which  are  well  worthy  the  considera- 
tion of  those  who  cavil  at  subscription,  were  of 
course  treated  with  contempt  by  those  fiery  zealots 
of  Calvinism,  and  were  actually  produced  against 
him  on  his  trial  as  crimes  by  "  Master  Prynne." 
The  Puritan  historian,  says,  "  Bishop  Laud  thinks 
that  if  the  words  will  bear  more  senses  than  one,  a 
man  may  choose  what  sense  his  judgment  directs 
him  to,  provided  it  be  a  sense,  according  to  the 
analogy  of  faith,  and  all  this  to  avoid  diversity  of 
opinions.  But  I  am  afraid  this  reasoning  is  too 
wonderful  for  the  reader."  Yet,  before  Neal  chose 
to  entertain  such  fears,  he  should  first  have  ascer- 
tained in  what  respect.  Truth,  I  again  remark,  is 
important  on  every  subject,  but  especially  in  mat- 
ters of  religion.  Truth,  however,  though  immu- 
table, arid  confined  neither  to  Popish  conclaves, 
nor  fanatical  parliamentary  committees  on  religion, 
nor  religious  partisanship,  nor  to  the  boast  of  sec- 
tarian hostility,  nor  to  Calvinistic  decrees,  nor  to 
mistaken  and  hypocritical  evangelism,  is  nevertheless 
subject  to  the  variability  of  human  understanding, 
and,  if  not  controled,  is  at  least  affected  by  local 
circumstances,  by  education,  connexions,  and  by 
association.  The  gospel,  with  respect  to  its  funda- 

1  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  163,  164.     Heylin,  p.  181,  182. 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  465 

mental  principles,  must  be  admitted  by  all,  there 
being  only  one  saving  faith,  one  hope,  one  baptism; 
but  it  is  not  necessary  or  imperative,  simply  because 
it  is  impossible,  that  the  same  opinions  should  be  held 
by  every  man,  even  respecting  some  of  those  great 
truths  which  compose  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Christianity,  which,  in  themselves,  are  essential  to 
salvation,  and   the  men  who  teach  otherwise  are 
of  necessity  bigots,  whether  they  be    Papists  or 
Sectarians.     On  these  points,  indeed,  the  Papists 
and  the  Puritans,  agreed,  and  their  intolerance  was 
in  unison ;  for  if  the  one  asserted  that  there  was  no 
salvation  out  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  other 
asserted  every  opinion  as  damnable  which  was  anti- 
Calvinistic,  and  those  who  held  them  were  declared 
"enemies  to  God"  "spawns  of  Papists,"  "frogs  that 
rise  out  of  the  bottomless  pit.J>     It  was  their  grand 
object,  that  every  man  should  hold  the  same  opi- 
nions on  religion  as  themselves,  and  this  they  were 
determined  to  enforce.     But   Laud   utterly  con- 
demned such  absurdity,  and  in  this  respect  he  was 
liberal,  even  in  the  most  general  acceptation  of  the 
word.     The  patron  of  liberality,  in  opposition  to 
the  worse  than  Popish  intolerance  of  Puritanism,  he 
permitted  every  man  to  exercise  his  own  opinions 
to  the  utmost  latitude,  consistent  with  a  true  belief 
in  that  faith  which  is  apostolical  and  catholic,  not 
individual,  heterodox,  and  sectarian.    And  who  will 
deny,  that  he  is  the  only  wise  and  prudent  theolo- 
gian, the  most  judicious  and  the  most  enlightened, 
(even  though  it  should  excite  the  fears  and  the 
VOL.  i.  H  h 


466  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

reprobation  of  such  oracles  as  the  Puritan  histo- 
rian, that  "  this  reasoning  is  too  wonderful  for  the 
reader/')  "  who  allows,"  says  a  reverend  and  learned 
writer  on  this  very  subject,  "  the  largest  latitude  of 
interpretation  consistent  with  the  analogy  of  the 
faith,  and  who  enforces  mutual  forbearance  on  all, 
who  may  yet  cordially  unite  in  the  public  worship 
of  God,  in  the  government  and  discipline  of  the 
Church,  and  in  all  the  practical  obligations  of  Chris- 
tian duty,  though  they  may  differ  very  widely  in 
their  apprehension  of  the  various  truths  which  they 
all  equally  believe,  and  by  which  they  may  be  all 
equally  actuated.  Such  a  theologian  was  Laud, 
though  he  has  been  almost  universally  represented 
as  the  reverse  V 

I  observe  farther,  on  this  important  subject — im- 
portant, undoubtedly,  as  connected  with  that  oppro- 
brium which  this  great  prelate  has  received,  not 
only  from  sectarians,  but  even  from  that  portion  of 
the  clergy  of  the  Church  who  affect  to  be  thought 
liberal,  and  who  call  themselves  evangelical,  that 
Laud's  enemies  who  held  him  to  be  a  bigot  were 
only  the  Puritans,  who  having  persuaded  them- 
selves that  their  principles  were  the  sole  marks  of 
genuine  truth,  were  resolved  to  establish  them  in 
the  kingdom.  If  the  royal  Declaration,  which,  let 
it  be  remembered,  did  not  at  all  affect  private  opi- 
nions, had  been  published  against  those  whom  they 


1  Life  of  Laud,  apud  Scottish  Episcopal  Magazine,  vol.  iii. 
No.  XII.  p.  485. 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  467 

called  Arminians  and  Pelagians,  and  whom,  with 
the  most  consummate  craftiness,  they  hesitated  not 
to  identify  with  Jesuits  and  Atheists,  no  murmur 
would  have  escaped  them,  they  would  have  rejoiced 
even  if  they  had  beheld  the  blood  of  their  oppo- 
nents ;  but,  because  this  very  Declaration  was  ge- 
neral in  its  language,  and  impartial  in  its  applica- 
tion, they  declared  that  they  were  persecuted, — 

that  their  religion  was  about  to  be  overthrown, 

that  they  were  prevented  from  preaching  the 
"  SAVING  doctrines  of  God's  free  grace  in  election, 
and  predestination  unto  life  eternal,"  and  other 
absurd  dogmas  and  tenets  of  Calvinism.  But 
Laud  had  more  of  the  Christian  disposition  than  his 
enemies.  He  knew  well  that  he,  as  a  man,  was  at 
best  but  a  frail  and  erring  mortal,  subject  to  human 
infirmities  and  prejudices,  and  he  wished  not  to 
make  his  own  theological  opinions  imperative  on 
the  conscience  of  any  man,  unless  from  conviction. 
Peace  and  unity  were  his  grand  objects,  and  these, 
he  saw,  might  be  obtained,  without  compelling  all 
men  to  think  alike,  or  to  become  believers  in  Cal- 
vin's dogmas  ;  without  these,  he  saw  there  was  no 
security  for  religion  and  the  Church,  no  safeguard 
against  the  ebullitions  of  partisanship,  and  the  ex- 
travagances of  heated  imaginations.  Such  was  the 
uniform  conduct  of  the  man  who  has  been  universally 
maligned  as  a  bigot,  and  the  encourager  of  bigotry, 
whose  memory  has  been  called  "  infamous,"  by 
self-righteous  sectarians  of  modern  times ;  while,  if 
H  h  2 


468  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

the  truth  were  known,  it  would  be  undeniable  that 
he  was  a  century  beyond  his  age  in  toleration  ;  that 
he  had  adopted  liberal  principles  to  the  full  extent : 
but  that  unfortunately  he  was  opposed  by  bigots, 
every  one  of  whom  was  an  inquisitor  in  spirit  to 
those  who  differed  from  him,  and  would  have  been 
so  in  reality,  had  he  possessed  the  power.  Not  so 
was  Laud,  although,  as  an  impartial  member  of 
the  Church  of  England,  he  was  no  Calvinist,  and 
consequently  could  not  uphold  or  defend  Calvin's 
"  platform."  He — the  Arminian  Bishop  Laud, 
excluded  not  Calvinists  from  the  Church,  if  they 
conformed  to  its  ritual  and  practice ;  and  he  bore 
willing  testimony  to  their  merits,  their  learning, 
and  their  conscientious  piety.  But  the  bigotted 
Puritans  of  that  age  thought  otherwise.  With  them 
an  Arminian,  one  who  could  not  believe  that  God 
had  from  all  eternity  elected  some  men  to  life 
eternal,  and  doomed  others  to  eternal  death  before 
they  were  born,  or  had  committed  any  thing  to 
merit  such  punishment, — such  a  one  was  declared 
to  be  an  "  enemy  to  his  God,  and  to  his  country." 
Because  he  believed  that  all  men  may  be  saved 
on  repentance,  who  embrace  the  gospel  through 
the  merits  of  their  Saviour,  he  was  declared  to  be 
a  "  subverter  of  religion,"  and,  in  the  elegant  phra- 
seology of  Puritanism,  "  the  spawn  of  a  Papist," — 
"  one  of  those  frogs  that  rise  from  the  bottomless 
pit ;" — that  Arminianism  "  was  planted  here  by  the 
Jesuits/'  and  was  "  a  cunning  way  to  bring  in 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  469 

Popery,"  and,  therefore,  all  those  who  inclined  to 
it  were  in  the  way  of  damnation l.  But  we  ought 
not  to  forget  that  persecution  is  the  same,  whether 
caused  by  Popish  or  sectarian  intolerance — that  the 
Calvinistic  pyre  at  Geneva,  which  consumed  Ser- 
vetus,  was  as  atrocious  as  the  inquisitorial  acts  of 
faith  in  Spain  or  Portugal— and  that  persecution, 
in  short,  is  "  equally  detestable,  whether  exercised 
by  Popes  and  their  partisans,  by  Parliamentary 
Committees  aided  by  preaching  zealots,  or  by  Ge- 
neral Assemblies  led  by  passionate  declaimers  V 

After  having  passed  their  vote,  or  vow,  against 
the  King's  Declaration,  the  Commons  bethought 
themselves  of  their  accustomed  fast,  without  which, 
it  appears,  they  could  transact  no  business.  They 
professed,  that  this  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was 
in  consideration  of  "  the  miseries  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  abroad ;"  yet,  though  they  had  been  assem- 
bled for  a  week,  they  did  not  send  their  petition  to 
the  King  until  the  30th  of  January.  The  famous  bill 
concerning  certain  duties  to  be  levied  on  "  tonnage 
and  poundage,"  was  then  depending  in  the  House, 
against  which  a  remonstrance  had  been  made  when 
the  Parliament  was  prorogued  ;  nor  did  the  grant- 
ing of  the  Petition  of  Right,  which  amply  guaran- 
teed to  the  Commons  all  that  they  could  desire, 
induce  them  to  consult  on  the  affairs  of  state,  in 


1  Prynne's  "  Hidden  Works  of  Darkness  brought  to  Light," 
p.  93,  94,  &c.  and  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  159,  &c. 
*  Scottish  Episcopal  Magazine,  ut  sup. 


470  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

preference  to  visionary  declamations  on  religion. 
The  King,  finding  them  inclined  to  delay,  answered 
their  fasting  petition  to  this  effect,  and  with  no 
small  disgust :  "  That  the  deplorable  condition  of 
the  Reformed  Churches  was  too  true,  and  their  duty 
was,  as  much  as  in  them  lay,  to  give  them  all  pos- 
sible help  ;  but  fighting  would  do  them  more  good 
than  fasting." — "  I  do  not  wholly,"  said  Charles, 
"  disapprove  of  the  latter,  yet  I  must  tell  you  that 
this  custom  of  fasting  every  session  is  but  lately 
begun,  and  I  confess  I  am  not  fully  satisfied  with 
the  necessity  of  it  at  this  time ;  yet,  to  shew  you 
how  smoothly  I  desire  your  business  to  go  on, 
eschewing  as  much  as  I  can  questions  or  jealousies, 
I  do  willingly  grant  your  request  herein ;  but  with 
this  provision,  that  this  shall  not  be  hereafter  made 
a  precedent  for  frequent  fasts  ;  and  for  form  and 
time,  I  will  advise  with  my  lords  the  bishops." 
But  when  the  King  pressed  for  the  passing  of  the 
bill  to  levy  the  duties  on  tonnage  and  poundage, 
he  was  told  that  they  could  not  "  without  impiety 
to  God,  disloyalty  to  his  Majesty,  and  unthankful- 
ness  to  those  who  sent  them,  proceed  therein,  with- 
out giving  precedency  to  religion,  which  was  in 
great  danger  from  Popery  and  Arminianism."  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  King  assured  them,  that  none 
could  have  a  greater  care  of  religion  than  himself. 
The  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  was  raised,  and  it  was 
the  endeavour  of  the  Puritan  party  to  increase  and 
extend  that  spirit  as  much  as  possible. 

Nothing  could  now  be  more  evident  than  that  the 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  471 

Puritans  made  religion  a  mere  pretext  for  their 
designs ;  and  every  remonstrance  of  the  King  was 
ineffectual  to  induce  them,  as  members  of  the  Par- 
liament, to  turn  their  attention  to  affairs  of  state. 
Pursuing  this  conduct,  they  proceeded,  on  the  10th 
of  February,  to  take  the  cases  of  Montague,  Man- 
waring,  Cosins,  and  Sibthorpe,  into  consideration, 
to  all  of  whom  the  King  had  been  pleased  to  grant 
pardons.  This  act  of  his  Majesty  was  ordered  to 
be  discussed,  and  those  ecclesiastics  were  summoned 
to  appear.  Montague  was  peculiarly  obnoxious  to 
them,  as  it  was  alleged  that  he  had  acted  with  Laud 
in  advising  the  King  to  publish  the  Declaration. 
Jones,  the  individual  whose  reasons  for  opposing 
Bishop  Montague's  confirmation  at  Bow  Church 
had  been  rejected  as  illegal  and  irrelevant,  preferred 
an  information  against  that  prelate  concerning  his 
consecration  to  the  See  of  Chichester,  which  of 
course  was  received,  and,  after  some  debate,  was 
referred  to  a  Committee.  Laud  and  Neile,  in  fine, 
were  their  grand  objects  of  attack ;  they  charged 
them  with  procuring  those  pardons ;  Sir  John  Elliott 
averred  in  the  House,  "  In  Laud  and  Neile  is  cen- 
tered all  the  danger  we  fear ;  for  he  that  procured 
those  pardons  may  be  the  author  of  those  new  opi- 
nions ;"  and  proposed  that  a  motion  might  be  made 
to  petition  the  King  to  leave  those  bishops  to  the 
justice  of  the  House.  It  was  not  without  reason 
that  Laud  asserted,  that  this  Parliament  sought 
his  ruin  !. 

1  Laud's  Diary,  p.  44. 


472  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

They  did  not,  however,  stop  here.  Bishop  Neile 
was  made  the  subject  of  their  more  particular  no- 
tice. The  reporter  of  their  Committee  asserted, 
that  after  examination,  Drs.  Montague,  Man  waring, 
Cosins,  and  Sibthorpe,  had  solicited  their  own  par- 
dons through  the  influence  of  Bishop  Neile,  who 
had  promised  to  obtain  the  King's  consent ;  and  at 
this  time  Oliver  Cromwell  distinguished  himself  in 
this  fanatical  feud.  Being  a  member  of  this  com- 
mittee, and  deeply  imbued  with  the  hypocrisy  of 
the  age,  he  asserted  that  Neile  had  openly  counte- 
nanced Popery,  by  alleging  a  pretended  remark  of 
that  prelate  addressed  to  some  of  his  clergy,  that 
there  was  not  so  much  occasion  now,  as  formerly, 
to  preach  against  Popery ;  and  two  clergymen,  his 
personal  enemies,  were  summoned  to  prove  the  fact. 
The  preferment  of  Dr.  Manwaring  especially  ex- 
cited Cromwell's  wrath.  "  If  these  be  the  steps  to 
church  preferment,"  said  the  future  Protector, 
"  what  may  we  expect  ?" 

Various  other  matters  were  discussed  ;  the  Lam- 
beth Articles  were  declared  by  those  zealots  for  the 
saving  doctrines  of  predestination  to  be  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church  of  England :  warm  debates 
took  place  concerning  the  licensing  of  books,  which, 
however,  with  numerous  other  matters,  were  all 
referred  to  the  religious  committee,  so  that  "  by 
these  embarrassments,"  as  Dr.  Heylin  well  remarks, 
"  the  Committee  for  Religion  had  work  enough, 
more  than  they  knew  well  how  to  manage." 

Matters  were  now  hastening  to  a  crisis,  and  the 


1658-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  473 

King  was  exasperated  that  this  seditious  enthusiasm 
was  made  to  supplant  the  weightier  matters  of 
state.  On  the  same  day  that  the  Commons  were 
animadverting  on  Bishop  Neile,  their  discontent- 
ment was  farther  excited,  in  consequence  of  the 
warehouse  of  one  of  their  members,  named  Rolls, 
being  sequestrated  by  a  pursuivant,  and  he  himself 
served  with  a  subpoena.  This  person  had  been  most 
active  in  opposing  the  bill  for  "  tonnage  and  pound- 
age,'* and  had  stimulated  in  a  great  measure  their 
vigorous  proceedings  against  the  officers  of  the  cus- 
toms. It  was  in  vain  that  Sir  Humphrey  May,  a 
member  of  the  privy-council,  informed  them,  that 
this  order  proceeded  not  from  the  King  in  council ; 
and  although  the  Attorney-General  wrote  to  Rolls, 
assuring  him  that  it  was  accidental,  and  ought  to 
be  overlooked,  the  ferment  was  excited,  and  the 
Sheriff  of  London  was  sent  to  the  Tower.  The  affair 
was  debated  a  few  days  after,  and  several  officers  of 
thfe  Custom-house  were  examined,  and  charged  with 
breach  of  privilege,  in  violently  arresting  the  goods 
of  a  member  of  the  House.  But  their  discussions 
about  reparation  to  Rolls,  and  punishment  of  the 
offenders,  so  provoked  the  King,  that  to  terminate 
an  affair  which  he  foresaw  would  otherwise  be  end- 
less, he  sent  a  message,  on  Monday,  the  23d,  de- 
claring, "  that  what  the  Custom-house  officers  did, 
was  by  his  own  direct  order  and  command  at  the 
council-board."  Another  debate  followed,  more 
severe  than  the  former,  in  which  Laud,  Neile,  Mon- 
tague, and  the  Lord  Treasurer  Weston>  were  plainly 


474  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G28-9. 

hinted  at,  some  of  the  faction  affirming,  "  that  these 
interruptions  proceeded  from  some  prelates  and 
others,  abettors  of  the  Popish  party,  who  fear  to 
be  discovered,  and  wish  to  provoke  the  breach/' 
They  then  represented  to  the  King,  that  they  were 
willing  to  make  a  distinction  between  his  Majesty's 
commands  and  the  individual  acts  of  the  officers ; 
in  other  words,  they  wished  him  to  retract  his  ad- 
mission that  Rolls  had  been  sequestrated  at  his 
instance,  by  which  they  would  be  enabled  to  punish 
the  offenders.  But  the  King  understood  the  arti- 
fice :  he  thanked  them  for  this  shew  of  respect,  but 
he  would  not  deny  what  he  said  were  his  own  orders. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  tumult.  Excla- 
mations to  adjourn  were  heard  from  all  sides  of  the 
House,  and  the  tumultuous  assembly  adjourned 
accordingly  until  Wednesday. 

The  breach  between  the  King  and  the  Commons 
was  now  irreparable ;  Charles  no  longer  struggled 
for  supplies,  but  for  the  preservation  of  his  power. 
The  Commons  met  on  the  Wednesday,  but  they 
were  adjourned  by  the  King  to  the  2d  of  March, 
not,  however,  before  they  found  time  to  read  over 
certain  particulars  respecting  Popery  and  Armi- 
nianism.  On  the  2d  of  March  they  again  met, 
when  the  Speaker,  (after  Sir  John  Elliott  had 
taken  the  opportunity  to  deliver  a  violent  declama- 
tion,) informed  them  that  he  was  commanded  by 
the  King  to  adjourn  the  House  for  another  week. 
This  excited  a  considerable  clamour.  They  denied 
that  the  Speaker  had  a  right  to  deliver  any  such 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  475 

command  to  them — that  they  only  had  a  right  to 
adjourn  themselves — and  that,  after  they  had  settled 
their  own  affairs,  they  would  attend  to  the  King's 
business.  A  general  disturbance  now  took  place. 
One  member  made  fast  the  door  of  the  House,  and 
secured  the  key,  while  another  was  assaulted  with 
personal  violence.  The  Speaker  was  ordered  to 
put  the  question  at  his  peril;  but  he  told  them 
that  he  was  commanded  by  the  King  to  rise  after 
delivering  the  royal  message.  He  did  so,  but  some 
members  who  were  in  readiness  kept  him  in  the 
chair  by  force ;  and,  notwithstanding  an  attempt 
made  to  free  him  from  this  violence,  a  member, 
the  famous  Denzil  Holies,  swore  he  should  sit  there 
till  it  pleased  them  to  let  him  rise.  No  persuasions 
or  entreaties,  however,  could  prevail  upon  him  to  re- 
linquish his  fidelity  to  the  King,  and  accordingly 
Holies  was  required  to  read  three  separate  protests ; 
the  first  declaring  that  whoever  should  endeavour 
to  extend  Popery  and  Arminianism>  or  other  opi- 
nions contrary  to  what  they  conceived  to  be  "  the 
true  and  orthodox  Church,"  should  be  declared  "  a 
capital  enemy  to  the  King  and  Commonwealth  l ;" 

1  I  am  afraid  that  at  the  present  day  there  are  many  such 
enemies  to  the  state.  If  I  mistake  not,  among  the  sectaries,  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists  profess  Arminianism,  ergo,  according  to 
the  Puritan  wiseacres,  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  must  be  ene- 
mies to  the  state.  Yet,  if  any  were  to  be  so  foolish  as  assert  so, 
if  it  would  not  be  reckoned  downright  insanity,  I  am  convinced 
he  would  justly  get  the  old-fashioned  summary  retort,  "  Tu 
mtntiris,  impudentissime" 


476  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

the  second  and  third  setting  forth  the  same  denun- 
ciation to  those  who  favoured  the  subsidies  of 
"  tonnage  and  poundage." 

These  disorders  were  reported  to  the  King,  who, 
astonished  that  the  House  should  defy  the  royal 
power,  and  presume  to  sit  after  his  order  for  ad- 
journment, sent  a  messenger  for  the  sergeant-at- 
arms ;  but  the  faction  having  cunningly  secured 
the  door,  there  was  no  admittance  till  the  protest 
was  read.  The  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  was  then 
sent  to  dissolve  the  House,  but  he  was  treated  with 
similar  contempt.  Exasperated  at  this  pert  insult, 
the  captain  of  the  guards  was  sent  with  a  party  to 
force  the  door.  The  faction,  however,  anticipated 
this,  by  tumultuously  adjourning  till  the  10th  of 
March,  the  day  appointed  by  the  King.  But  the 
King  resolved  that  they  should  not  renew  their 
disgraceful  turbulence,  and,  accordingly,  on  the  2d 
of  March,  a  proclamation  was  prepared  to  dissolve 
the  Parliament. 

In  the  mean  time  warrants  were  issued  against 
the  leaders  of  this  disorder,  who  had  so  zealously 
distinguished  themselves,  and  Holies,  Selden,  and 
Sir  John  Elliott,  were  committed  to  the  Tower, 
for  refusing  to  answer  for  what  had  been  remarked 
out  of  the  House.  They  were  all  sentenced,  shortly 
after,  in  the  King's  Bench,  to  be  imprisoned  during 
the  King's  pleasure.  Elliott  being  the  most  dis- 
tinguished delinquent,  was  fined  2000/.,  and  con- 
fined in  prison,  where  he  died,  in  the  judgment  of 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  477 

the  Puritan  historian,  "  a  martyr  for  the  liberties 
of  his  country."  Holies  was  fined  1000  marks, 
and  others  in  proportion  to  their  misconduct. 

On  the  10th  of  March  the  King  went  in  state  to 
the  House,  where,  in  a  wise  and  eloquent  speech, 
in  which  he  reprobated  in  strong  language  the  con- 
duct of  the  Commons,  he  dissolved  the  Parliament, 
and  on  the  following  day  appeared  the  proclama- 
tion. And  to  justify  himself  in  the  eyes  of  the 
nation,  his  Majesty  prepared  a  Declaration  "  to  all 
his  loving  subjects  of  the  causes  which  moved  him 
to  dissolve  the  last  Parliament,"  which  was  followed 
by  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  the  late  proceed- 
ings of  the  Commons  having  "  driven  his  Majesty 
unwillingly  from  calling  another  Parliament,  he 
shall  account  it  presumption  for  any  one  to  pre- 
scribe time  for  the  calling  of  Parliaments,  the  call- 
ing, continuing,  and  dissolving  of  which,  being 
always  invested  in  the  King's  own  person  V 

Such  were  the  conduct  and  conclusion  of  Charles' 
third  Parliament,  and  with  it  closed  the  year  1628. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  Bishop  Williams  of 
Lincoln  contrived  to  commence  a  friendship  with 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  by  endeavouring  to  heal  the 
divisions  of  the  state :  and  from  this  time  the  King 
beheld  him  more  favourably,  though  that  prelate 
did  not  reside  at  Court.  Laud,  however,  justly 
considering  himself  aggrieved,  did  not  renew  his 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  658 — 662.  Appendix,  p.  17.  vol.  ii. 
p.  3,  &-c. 


478  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-?. 

intimacy  with  the  Bishop,  and  Wentworth  was  by 
no  means  satisfied  with  the  Lord  Treasurer's  con- 
duct, in  attempting  to  bring  a  powerful  rival  into 
favour.  Bishop  Williams'  hopes  of  reconciling  the 
King  and  Parliament  were  disappointed  :  from  this 
time  the  breach  was  irreparable.  The  King's  mi- 
nisters escaped  not  the  censures  of  the  populace  : 
and  Laud  and  the  Lord  Treasurer  in  particular, 
were  singled  out  as  objects  of  public  hatred.  The 
factious  religionists  of  the  Parliament  secretly  ex- 
ulted in  this  fermentation,  and  strove  to  fan  the 
flame  of  discontentment.  Laud  and  Weston,  since 
the  old  object  of  hatred,  Buckingham,  was  re- 
moved, were  charged  with  being  the  causes  of  the 
alleged  violent  measures  of  government,  and  their 
lives  were  threatened.  On  the  29th  of  March, 
1628-9,  two  anonymous  papers  were  found  before 
the  house  of  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  which  had 
been  privately  conveyed  there  by  the  Puritan 
emissaries,  the  one  against  Laud,  the  other  threat- 
ening the  Lord  Treasurer.  "  The  one  was  to  this 
effect,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  concerning  myself:  Laud, 
look  to  thyself;  be  assured  thy  life  is  sought.  As 
thou  art  the  fountain  of  all  wickedness,  repent  of 
thy  monstrous  sins,  before  thou  be  taken  out  of  the 
world.  And  assure  thyself,  neither  God  nor  the 
world  can  endure  such  a  vile  counsellor  to  live,  or 
such  a  whisperer."  The  threats  against  the  Lord 
Treasurer  were  to  the  same  purpose.  And  yet, 
even  here  does  this  great  Prelate  evince  his  humi- 
lity and  pious  disposition.  Instead  of  endeavouring 
7 


1628-9.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  479 

to  discover  the  author  of  this  abuse,  and  bring  him 
to  merited  punishment,  we  find  him  mildly  noting 
in  his  Diary,  which  he  never  imagined  would  meet 
the  public  eye,  "  Lord,  I  am  a  grievous  sinner, 
but,  I  beseech  thee,  deliver  my  soul  from  them  that 
hate  me  without  a  cause." 

But  it  was  altogether  impossible,  in  that  age  of 
strong  religious  fervour,  for  the  advocate  of  mode- 
ration to  escape  the  popular  .resentment.  Being 
completely  under  the  control  of  their  crafty  leaders, 
who  had  signalized  themselves  by  their  turbulence 
in  the  Parliament,  and  led.  by  enthusiasts,  who, 
assuming  the  ecclesiastical  function,  studiously  pro- 
moted their  seditious  schemes,  the  people  forgot 
their  duty  to  their  sovereign,  and  justified  their  ex- 
cesses by  indulging  their  religious  and  political 
prejudices.  That  Laud  was  most  unjustly  libelled, 
and  that  his  enemies  in  this  Parliament  were  not 
actuated  by  conscientious  motives,  but  by  a  mean 
and  dastardly  hatred,  cannot  be  questioned.  He 
was,  indeed,  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  was  the 
confidant  of  the  King,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that 
he  took  any  share  in  the  contentions  of  this  sedi- 
tious meeting,  when  the  members  of  the  English 
Senate  forgot  themselves,  their  Sovereign,  and  their 
country.  It  is  easy  to  excite  the  clamour  of  libe- 
rality, and  nothing  is  more  grateful  to  the  ignorant 
and  obscure,  than  to  be  made  judges  and  umpires 
over  the  actions  of  their  superiors  :  but  liberality  is 
a  term  extremely  vague  and  indefinite,  nor  does  it 
follow  that  the  bursts  of  popular  clamour  are  the 


480  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1628-9. 

certain  indications  of  freedom  of  opinion.  In  like 
manner,  the  gratification  of  the  prejudices  of  the 
rabble,  which  have  too  often  been  singularly  mis- 
named the  rights  of  the  people,  is  only  a  prepara- 
tion to  overthrow  the  salutary  administration  of  a 
well-constituted  government,  by  sowing  the  seeds 
of  sedition,  and  stimulating  the  fierceness  of  hatred. 
Men  are  in  one  sense  only  born  free.  They  are  the 
subjects  of  government  from  the  very  moment  of 
their  birth  ;  they  yield  a  tacit  assent  to  the  existing 
laws ;  and  who  will  dare  to  say,  that  even  indivi- 
dual oppression  on  the  part  of  the  state  is  to  be 
the  watchword  for  a  general  revolt  ?  In  almost 
every  case,  the  administration  of  one  has  advan- 
tages superior  to  that  of  many  :  hence,  a  well-con- 
stituted monarchy,  the  head  of  which  is  firm  and 
decisive,  terrified  neither  by  the  censures  of  those 
who  affect  to  be  leaders  in  representative  assem- 
blies, nor  by  the  violent  bursts  of  popular  clamour, 
as  excited  by  those  leaders  under  an  alleged  re- 
gard for  liberality,  is  infinitely  to  be  preferred  to 
any  species  of  republicanism.  In  the  one  there  are 
unity,  freedom,  and  security;  in  the  other  there 
have  been  too  often  manifested  distractions  and 
impatience  of  control,  the  insolence  of  sudden  ele- 
vation, and  a  gratification  of  the  worst  passions  at 
the  expence  of  the  natural  rights  of  man.  In  the 
former  there  is  order  induced  by  subordination ;  in 
the  latter  there  must  of  necessity  be  an  imperium 
in  imperio, — the  inevitable  result  of  uncontrouled 
popular  assemblies. 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  481 


CHAPTER  XI. 


1629—1631. 

The  Court  of  Charles  I. — Character  of  the  King— The  Queen 
— Laud — The  expediency  of  ecclesiastics  interfering  with  state 
affairs  discussed — Character  of  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton — 
Notice  of  his  life — Character  of  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth, 
Lord  Wentrvorth — Notice  of  his  life — Consequence  of  Abbot 's 
primacy —  The  lecturers — Their  practices — Cognizance  taken 
of  them  by  the  court — Instructions  concerning  them — Preach- 
ing— Its  nature  and  uses — Popular  errors  on  it — Conduct  of 
Archbishop  Abbot — Proceedings  of  Laud — Specimens  of  the 
devotions  of  the  lecturers — Prosecutions  against  them  for 
sedition — Death  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  Chancellor  of 
Oxford — Election  of  Laud  as  Chancellor  of  that  University — 
His  munificence  and  patronage  of  literature — Birth  of  Charles 
II. — Laud  officiates  at  the  baptism — Revival  of  the  Predes- 
tinarian  Controversy — Dr.  Davenant,  Bishop  of  Salisbury — 
Libels  against  Laud— Story  of  Dr.  Alexander.  Leighton — 
His  book  termed  "  Z  ion's  Plea" — His  degradation  and  punish- 
ment— Defence  of  Laud — Examination  of  the  Star- Chamber 
proceedings — The  consecration  of  the  Church  of  St.  Cathe- 
rine Cree — The  nature  of  Religious  Ceremonies — The  Pa- 
pists and  Puritans — Remarks  on  Laud's  conduct — Farther 
instances  of  his  munificence. 

I  HAVE  detailed,  with  perhaps  too  great  a  prolixity, 
the  storms  and  contentions  of  the  first  four  years 
of  this  disastrous  reign,  and  yet,  I  regret,  after  all, 
that  my  limits  preclude  me  from  entering  more 
VOL.  i.  i  i 


482  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1C29. 

fully  into  this  important  subject.  For  to  me  it 
appears,  that  much  yet  remains  to  be  elucidated  of 
the  history  of  this  age,  when  reason  shall  triumph 
over  prejudice,  and  moderation  over  the  yet  too 
visible  remains  of  religious  fanaticism.  After  the 
dispersion  of  this  Parliament,  a  comparative  tran- 
quillity ensued,  which  lasted  for  more  than  eight 
years,  when  the  Covenanting  zealots  of  Scotland 
again  excited  tumults  and  distractions,  the  most 
fatal  and  lamentable  in  their  termination. 

Here  it  may  not  be  improper  to  introduce  a  few 
remarks  on  the  Court,  which,  during  the  greater 
part  of  this  reign,  was  worthy  of  England  for  its 
dignity  and  splendor.  Charles  possessed  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  great  and  wise  monarch,  digni- 
fied in  his  deportment,  mild  in  his  appearance,  and 
graceful  in  his  manners.  Knowing  well  that  if 
princes  preserve  not  their  dignity  they  are  liable 
to  disrespect,  he  acted  as  the  monarch  of  a  power- 
ful nation,  nor  was  he  inclined  to  seek  an  ephe- 
meral popularity  by  a  mere  affectation  of  humi- 
lity. In  conversation  he  was  easy  and  affable, 
in  argument  calm  and  collected ;  granting  audi- 
ences according  to  the  nature  of  the  business; 
otherwise,  as  was  necessary,  making  his  ministers 
the  channel  of  communication.  He  was  not  rash 
or  hasty  in  his  choice  of  servants ;  he  observed  men 
long  before  he  admitted  them  into  confidence ;  and 
he  restrained,  by  his  manner,  every  appearance  of 
abusing  his  condescension  by  forwardness  or  un- 
warrantable assumption  of  power.  While  he  was 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  483 

not  remarkably  profuse  in  his  generosity,  he  failed 
not  to  reward  those  who  were  attached  to  his  per- 
son, and  that,  too,  at  an  expence  which  his  circum- 
stances frequently  rendered  difficult.  Little  need 
be  said  of  his  regard  for  religion,  and  its  solemn 
duties,  in  the  practice  of  which,  as  has  been  well 
remarked,  he  was  more  consistent  than  any  other 
Protestant  prince  in  Europe. 

The  beautiful  Henrietta  Maria,  on  the  other 
hand,  did  not  possess  much  of  her  husband's  gra- 
vity. Educated  in  a  court  long  famous  for  its 
refinement  and  splendor,  and  the  member  of  a 
Church,  the  solemn  services  of  which,  to  say  the 
least,  are  imposing  to  the  imagination,  though 
many  of  its  doctrines  are  unhappily  too  liable  to  be 
abused  by  indulgences,  the  queen  was  partial  to 
magnificent  appearances,  delighting  to  move  in  that 
splendid  ostentation  which  attracts  and  allures  the 
beholder.  In  her  manner,  indeed,  she  was  digni- 
fied and  stately,  and  even  Charles'  serious  deport- 
ment was  ascribed  to  her  influence :  but  she  was 
fond  of  complimentary  effusions,  especially  in  her 
taste  for  masquerades  and  other  diversions,  which 
she  frequently  promoted  in  the  Court.  But  she 
had  no  talents  for  political  intrigue,  nor  does  she 
appear,  unless  when  under  the  dominion  of  priests, 
before  the  King  dismissed  her  French  attendants, 
at  any  time  to  have  taken  much  concern  in  public 
affairs.  Hence,  French  interest  did  not  much 
prevail  in  England  during  the  reign  of  Charles, 
nor  does  there  appear  to  have  been  more  than 


484  .<:  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

a  mere   superficial   friendship   between    the    two 
Courts. 

After  Buckingham's  death,  Laud  received  farther 
instances  of  the  King's  regard,  and  at  last  attained 
the  hazardous  elevation  of  prime  minister,— an  ele- 
vation by  no  means  enviable  in  that  turbulent  age. 
He  at  this  time  had  the  chief  management  of  Eng- 
lish affairs,  for  which  his  firmness,  integrity,  and 
knowledge  of  business  eminently  qualified  him.  It 
has  been  doubted  whether  it  is  reasonable  and  de- 
cent to  advance  ecclesiastics  to  the  administration  of 
civil  affairs :  it  has  been  asserted  that  it  is  incom- 
patible with  their  spiritual  office :  it  has  been 
denied  that  it  is  conformable  to  the  injunctions  of 
the  divine  Author  of  Christianity  :  and  Charles  has 
been  blamed  and  traduced  for  submitting  the  public 
administration  to  a  man  whom  some  enthusiasts 
have  called  a  bigot,  and  of  "  infamous  memory." 
As  to  Laud's  bigotry,  or  his  "  infamous  memory," 
it  is  needless  at  present  to  turn  the  arguments 
against  his  contemporary  and  modern  enemies.  Yet, 
while  I  admit  that  there  is  some  reason  in  the  pre- 
vious exceptions,  it  does  not  appear  that  they  uni- 
versally hold.  For  it  is  evident  that  Christianity 
is  an  inherent  part  of  the  constitution,  that  all 
treaties  are  conducted  on  its  broad  and  solid  basis : 
and  he  who  has  made  its  doctrines  and  duties  the 
study  of  his  life,  connected  with  natural  talent  and 
capacity  for  affairs,  is  by  no  means  ill  qualified  to 
superintend,  with  the  same  facility  as  a  layman,  a 
government,  the  public  acts  of  which  have,  or  ought 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  485 

to  have,  in  a  civilized  country,,  one  great  and  ulti- 
mate end  in  view, — the  advancement  of  religion, 
and,  consequently,  of  the  national  happiness.  Nor 
am  I  sure  that  the  civil  administration  by  an  eccle- 
siastic is  altogether  incompatible  with  his  spiritual 
office,  if  it  be  found  that  his  superintendence  con- 
duces to  the  public  good ;  for  such  a  man  is  as 
much  a  civil  member  of  society,  and  as  much  con- 
cerned in  the  public  acts  of  government,  as  the 
man  who  has  not  the  ordination  of  the  Church. 
As  it  is  the  duty  of  the  public  minister  to  pro- 
mote those  measures  which  tend  to  the  stability  of 
government,  and  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-subjects  ; 
these  are  clearly  objects  which  are  not  in  them- 
selves at  variance  with  his  station  as  an  ecclesiastic, 
but  are  rather  strictly  imperative  on  him  as  a  spi- 
ritual pastor.  And  as  to  the  injunctions  concerning 
Church  and  State,  which  some  pretend  to  find  in  the 
Christian  Scriptures,  no  analogy  can  be  traced  be- 
tween the  days  of  the  Apostles,  when  Judaism  or 
Paganism  was  established,  and  the  present  times, 
when  Christianity  is  the  law  of  the  land ;  and,  there- 
fore no  precedents  or  arguments  for  Independency 
can  be  thence  adduced.  The  amount  of  all  which 
the  Christian  Scriptures  contain  on  this  subject  is 
the  declaration  of  our  Saviour,  that  his  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world,  but  that  does  not  militate  against 
the  establishment  of  Christianity  by  law  :  for  the 
Church,  although  connected  with  the  state,  is  purely 
a  spiritual  kingdom,  inasmuch  as  it  is  governed  by 
its  own  laws,  which  do  not  interfere  with  the  civil 


486  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

administration  :  and  hence  its  members  are  subject 
to  two  jurisdictions — the  law  ecclesiastical,  for  spi- 
ritual matters,  and  the  law  civil,  because  they  are 
members  of  society,  which  law  is  distinct  by  itself. 
In  truth,  there  are  no  injunctions  delivered  on  this 
subject  in  the  New  Testament :  but  the  future  events 
of  government  were  left  to  their  natural  course,  ex- 
cept what  is  contained  in  that  remarkable  declara- 
tion of  prophecy,  that,  in  the  last  days,  kings  shall 
be  nursing  fathers,  and  queens  nursing  mothers  to 
the  Church.  If  Christianity  be  a  public  good,  it 
cannot  be  wrong  to  establish  it :  if  it  involves  man's 
happiness,  its  establishment  is  imperative :  if  its 
ministers  are  to  promote  this  in  every  respect,  their 
duties  are  at  once  understood  :  so  that,  although  I 
admit  that  the  objections  are  not  wholly  gratuitous, 
I  maintain  that  those  ecclesiastics  who  may  be  called 
to  administer  in  civil  as  well  as  spiritual  matters,  do 
not  perform  duties  inconsistent  with  their  situation, 
or  act  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

Laud,  as  has  been  remarked,  presided  over  the 
affairs  of  England.  The  second  great  personage, 
distinguished  alike  for  his  influence  and  his  mis- 
fortunes, was  James,  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  who 
administered  the  government  of  Scotland.  This 
nobleman,  the  representative  of  his  ancient  and 
noble  family,  and  nearly  allied  to  the  House  of 
Stuart,  being,  in  fact,  the  next  in  succession  to  the 
throne  had  the  royal  family  become  extinct,  was 
the  son  of  James,  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  descended 
lineally  from  the  famous  Duke  of  Chatelherault 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  487 

and  Earl  of  Arran,  who  was  regent  of  Scotland 
during  the  minority  of  Mary,  his  niece,  and  was 
distinguished  for  his  subsequent  conduct  in  the 
defence  of  that  queen,  and  in  opposing  her  brother, 
the  Earl  of  Moray.  The  Marquis  was  born  at 
Hamilton  Palace,  in  1606,  and  educated  at  Oxford, 
but  he  left  the  University  in  1625,  the  year  of  his 
father's  death.  He  had  married  in  his  youth  Lady 
Mary  Fielding,  niece  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham1, 
but  he  did  not  reside  at  Court,  notwithstanding 
the  pressing  invitations  of  the  King,  till  the  Duke's 
death;  after  which  melancholy  event,  he  yielded 
to  the  solicitations  of  the  King,  repaired  to  London 
from  the  Palace  in  Lanarkshire,  was  made  Master 
of  the  Horse,  Gentleman  of  the  Bed-chamber, 
and  a  Privy  Councillor  in  both  kingdoms.  The 
King's  affection  towards  him,  being  his  relation  in 
no  very  remote  degree,  did  not  elate  his  mind,  or 
make  him  forget  his  illustrious  descent.  Prudent, 
wise,  and  moderate,  his  influence  was  great  in  the 
royal  councils,  and  though  he  was  thought  by 

1  In  his  youth,  for  he  was  at  this  time  eighteen,  that  is,  when 
he  was  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  the  lady  seven.  This 
was  an  expedient  of  Buckingham's,  who  was  desirous  to 
strengthen  his  family  by  great  alliances,  and  who  persuaded 
the  Marquis'  father  to  the  match.  As  is  usually  the  case  in 
those  political  alliances,  he  did  not  live  happily  at  first  with  his 
lady,  but  his  love  to  her  increased  afterwards  so  much,  that 
she  was  accustomed  to  observe,  that  "  she  had  the  greatest 
reason  to  bless  God  for  having  given  her  such  a  husband,  whom, 
as  she  loved  perfectly,  she  was  not  ashamed  to  obey."  She 
died  in  163S. 


488  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1029. 

some  to  be  inclined  to  Presbyterianism,  yet  he  was 
devotedly  attached  to  the  King,  and  to  the  Church 
of  England,  and  he  only  sanctioned  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  in  1641,  in  obedience  to  the 
King,  who  had  been  induced  to  assent  to  that 
fanatical  bond  of  the  Scots.  His  favour  with 
the  King  exposed  him  to  private  enmity,  "  he 
missed  not  his  share  of  it,"  says  Bishop  Burnet, 
"  from  those  who  were  looking  on  him  as  the 
rising  favourite  ;  though  he  bore  that  character 
worthily,  he  managed  it  prudently,  for  he  neither 
studied  to  engross  things  to  himself  nor  his  kin- 
dred 1 ;  he  grew  not  insolent  upon  favour,  nor  im- 
patient of  competitors :  neither  did  he  obtrude 
himself  upon  the  management  of  particular  affairs, 
but  did  rest  satisfied  with  the  royal  marks  of  his 
master's  favours,  which,  upon  all  occasions,  were 
poured  on  him  liberally."  Such  was  the  nobleman 
to  whom  the  affairs  of  Scotland  were  to  be  en- 
trusted, cautious  and  politic,  of  undoubted  valour, 
which  he  evinced  while  he  served  under  the  famous 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  before  he 
entered  upon  an  administration  turbulent  in  itself 

1  Compare  this  with  Archdeacon  Echard's  assertions,  that 
"  he  had  a  mighty  influence  upon  the  greatest  affairs  at  court, 
especially  when  they  related  to  his  own  countrymen,"  and  that, 
"  by  his  influence,  and  the  King's  fondness  towards  his  native 
country,  the  court  became  filled  with  Scotchmen,  who  obtained 
places  and  revenues  to  a  proportion  that  was  thought  against 
all  the  rules  of  reason  and  policy."  I  believe  the  Archdeacon 
has  followed  Clarendon  and  Heylin  in  these  assertions. 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  489 

and  fatal  to  him  in  its  consequences,  during  which 
foreign  service  he  acquired  a  greater  degree  of  wis- 
dom and  valour,  which  made  him  to  be  reckoned  a 
more  dangerous  enemy  than  he  really  was  *. 

The  third  great  personage  at  the  court,  and  to 
whom  were  to  be  committed  the  affairs  of  Ireland, 
was  the  famous  Wentworth,  afterwards  the  ill-fated 
Earl  of  StrafFord,  the  intimate  friend  of  Laud,  who 
was  destined,  like  that  great  Prelate,  and  the  Mar- 
quis of  Hamilton,  to  die  the  victim  of  oppression, 
rebellion,  and  cruelty.  This  great  and  extraordi- 
nary man,  whose  abilities  were  so  eminent,  as  to 
make  Cardinal  Richelieu,  in  a  transport  of  indigna- 
tion against  the  English,  declare  him  the  wisest 
head  in  the  nation,  was  descended  from  an  ancient 
and  honourable  family  in  Yorkshire,  which  had  been 
settled  in  that  county  since  the  time  of  the  Con- 
queror, in  whose  Doomsday  Book  the  name  of  Regi- 
nald de  Wintwade  occurs 2.  He  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  of  Wentworth  Wod- 
house,  Yorkshire,  and  of  a  daughter  of  Robert 
Atkinson,  of  Stowell,  Gloucestershire,  a  Bencher 
of  Lincoln's  Inn,  at  whose  house,  in  Chancery-lane, 
London,  he  was  born  on  GoodrFriday,  April  13, 
1593.  He  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  the  foundress  of  which  noble  college 
was  one  of  his  ancestors.  Upon  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  1614,  he  succeeded  to  an  estate  in  those 

1  Bishop  Burnet's  Memoirs  of  the  Dukes  of  Hamilton,  &c. 
folio,  London,  1678,  p.  1,  2.  4>.  406,  407,  408. 
3  Collins'  Peerage,  vol.  ii.  p.  20,  21. 


490  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

days  of  6000/.  per  annum,  with  the  title  of  Ba- 
ronet, conferred  by  James  I.  on  his  father,  who  had 
been  the  twenty-second  since  the  institution  of  that 
order  l.  In  1615,  he  was  Gustos  Rotulorum  for 
Yorkshire,  and  in  1621,  one  of  the  representatives 
for  the  county.  In  1622,  his  lady,  a  daughter  of 
the  Earl  of  Clare,  died,  and,  in  1624-5,  he  mar- 
ried Lady  Arabella  Holies,  a  lady  of  great  personal 
and  mental  accomplishments.  On  the  accession  of 
Charles  to  the  crown,  he  represented  Yorkshire  in 
the  first  Parliament,  in  which  he  advocated  the 
enthusiastic  measures  of  the  Puritan  faction,  though 
he  still  preserved  his  respect  for  the  King,  which 
those  religionists  had  unfortunately  forgotten;  and 
that  Charles  did  not  view  him  in  the  light  of  an 
enemy,  is  evident  from  his  nominating  him  one  of  the 
seven  who  were  appointed  to  serve  as  sheriffs  in  1625. 
He  was  removed,  however,  by  the  interest  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  while  discharging  the  duties  of  his 
office,  which  increased  his  opposition  to  the  Court, 
and  prompted  him  to  aid  in  impeaching  the  Duke2. 
In  1627  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Marshalsea,  and 
then  confined  to  a  circle  of  two  miles  round  Dartford 
in  Kent,  for  refusing  to  comply  with  the  loan.  After 
six  months'  restraint,  he  was  elected  to  represent 
Yorkshire  in  the  King's  third  Parliament,  in  which 
he  distinguished  himself  by  promoting  the  famous 

1  Dedication  of  Stafford's  Letters,  &c.,  by  Dr.  Knowles,  and 
Sir  G.  Radcliffe's  Essay,  apud  Appendix. 

2  Collection,  vol.  i.  p.  2,  3.     Letters,  34,  35,  36. 

, ..   ~ 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  491 

Petition  of  Right,  which  being  granted  by  the 
King,  he  ceased  his  opposition,  perceiving  that  the 
faction  whom  he  had  aided  were  not  actuated  by 
their  pretended  motives  of  disinterestedness :  and  he 
took  every  occasion  of  expressing  his  disapprobation 
of  their  proceedings  *.  Being  reconciled  soon  after  to 
the  Duke,  he  was  offered  a  peerage,  which  he  at 
once  accepted,  and  was  created  Baron  Wentworth, 
on  the  22d  of  July,  1628  2.  This  excited  a  consider- 
able speculation  among  the  people,  and  especially 
amongst  the  Puritan  faction,  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
which,  Pym,  with  whom  he  had  formerly  acted, 
said  to  him,  on  a  certain  occasion,  "  You  are  go- 
ing to  be  undone,  but  remember,  that  though  you 
leave  us  now,  I  will  never  leave  you  while  your 
head  is  upon  your  shoulders."  The  surprise  caused 
by  his  elevation  was  farther  increased  by  his  being 
created  a  few  months  afterwards  a  Viscount,  made 
a  member .  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  Lord  Presi- 
dent J  of  the  North,  on  the  resignation  of  Lord 
Scroope 3.  In  this  latter  situation  he  endeavoured  to 
repair  the  mischievous  effects  of  the  negligence  of 
his  predecessor,  and  he  now  devoted  himself  entirely 
to  the  King.  The  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  activity  of 
this  great  statesman,  farther  recommended  him  to 


1  Letters  of  Lord  Strafford  to  his  brother-in-law,   Denzil 
Holies,  Collection,  vol.  i.  p.  40,  41 . 

3  Stafford's  Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  47,  vol.  ii.  p.  430. 
3  Letters,  ut  sup. 

7 


492  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

Charles,  who,  at  the  death  of  Buckingham,  made 
him  one  of  his  chief  confidants  and  advisers.  At 
this  time,  too,  his  extraordinary  friendship  with 
Laud  commenced,  which  continued  unabated  till 
his  death.  No  two  men  were  ever  brought  into 
contact  with  each  other  whose  principles  and  feel- 
ings were  so  much  in  unison.  The  same  integrity, 
the  same  devotedness  to  church  and  state,  the  same 
firmness  and  decision,  the  same  affection  for  their 
royal  master,  the  same  opposition  to  the  extrava- 
gances of  Puritans  and  Recusants,  distinguished 
each.  In  short,  their  tempers,  inclinations,  and 
principles,  as  well  as  the  modes  of  public  adminis- 
tration, were  in  unison  ;  they  possessed  every  thing 
which  Cicero  so  eloquently  enumerated  as  essential 
to  a  lasting  friendship.  No  part,  perhaps,  of  the 
history  of  this  momentous  period  is  more  inte- 
resting than  the  correspondence  between  these  illus- 
trious men.  The  character  of  Wentworth,  al- 
though it  has  been  calumniated  and  vilified  by  his 
enemies,  requires  little  delineation.  Temperate  and 
frugal,  affectionate  and  kind,  in  his  public  and 
domestic  concerns,  he  was  profoundly  skilled  in 
the  laws  of  England,  and  he  died  a  martyr  for  the 
altar  and  the  throne.  His  prudence  was  well 
known,  few  excelled  him  in  eloquence  of  speech. 
Though  naturally  choleric,  he  endeavoured  to  re- 
press his  temper,  and  he  loved  those  who  reminded 
him  of  his  weaknesses.  "  He  was  a  man,"  says  Sir 
George  Radcliffe, "  and  not  an  angel,  yet  such  a  man 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  493 

as  made  a  conscience  of  his  ways,  and  did  endeavour 
to  grow  in  virtue  and  victory  over  himself,  and  made 
good  progress  accordingly1." 

Such  were  the  tliree  personages  who  were  most 
distinguished  at  the  court  in  that  turbulent  age ; 
and  the  latter  it  is  not,  perhaps,  improper  to 
introduce  as  connected  with  Laud,  inasmuch  as 
they  were  all  involved  in  the  general  catastrophe 
of  this  disastrous  reign,  sealing  with  their  blood 
their  loyalty  to  the  King — the  victims  of  daring  re- 
bellion and  ambition.  On  the  characters  of  the 
other  ministers  of  Charles  I.  it  would  be  out  of 
place  to  expatiate.  Laud,  Hamilton,  and  Went- 
worth,  though  not  accountable  for  the  imprudences 
of  the  inferiors,  were  at  the  helm  ©f  affairs. 

The  year  1629  passed  away,  with  little  of  im- 
portance in  the  life  of  this  great  prelate.  Diligent 
in  the  discharge  of  his  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and 
adorning  by  his  firmness  and  piety  that  high  station 
which  the  See  of  London  secures,  Laud  was  not  the 
man  to  be  deceived  by  the  intolerant  pretensions  of 
the  popular  leaders,  men  of  narrow  views  and  vio- 
lent enthusiasm.  On  the  13th  of  May,  the  Queen 
was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  survived  only  a  few 
hours,  and  Laud  presided  at  the  funeral  the  next 
day  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The  remainder  of  the 
year  was  to  him  a  season  of  personal  affliction.  On 
the  14th  of  August,  on  his  way  to  Woodstock,  he 

1  Sir  G.  Radcliffe's  Essay,  apud  Appendix  to  Stafford's 
Letters,  vol.  ii.  p.  433—436. 


494  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

fell  into  a  fever  at  the  house  of  one  of  his  friends 
named  Windebank,  where  he  lay  till  the  20th  of 
October,  in  an  almost  hopeless  condition.  On  the 
29th,  he  was  enabled  to  return  to  London  House, 
but;  still  continuing  weak,  he  again  relapsed,  nor 
did  he  completely  recover  till  the  end  of  the  ensu- 
ing March. 

But  while  Laud  was  thus  confined  by  sickness, 
his  active  mind  was  constantly  employed.  The  ad- 
vancement of  religion  he  rightly  conceived  to  be 
identified  with  the  stability  of  the  Church,  and  if 
the  Church  fell,  there  was  no  barrier  against  fana- 
ticism and  every  species  of  sectarianism.  Abbot, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  Puritan  testimonies  to 
his  mildness  and  liberality,  was  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed with  a  spirit  of  sectarian  intolerance,  had 
contributed  much  to  weaken  the  Church  by  his 
government.  "  No  friend  was  he  to  the  Church  of 
England,  whereof  he  was  the  head,"  says  Aubrey, 
"  but  scandalously  permitted  that  poisonous  spirit 
of  Puritanism  to  spread  all  over  the/ whole  nation, 
by  his  indolence,  at  least,  if  not  by  his  connivance 
and  encouragement,  which  some  years  after  broke 
out,  and  laid  a  flourishing  Church  and  State  in 
the  most  miserable  ruins,  and  which  gave  birth  to 
those  principles  which,  unless  rooted  out,  will  ever 
make  the  nation  unhappy  V  At  this  time  his  age 
had  increased  his  remissness  :  his  house,  as  has  been 
already  observed,  resembled  a  conventicle  rather 

1  Antiquities  of  Surrey,  vol.  iii.  p.  287. 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  495 

than  the  house  of  a  Protestant  Bishop  ;  a  puritani- 
cal silence  reigned  within  its  walls,  and  he  was 
himself  rendered  gloomy  and  austere  by  the  spirit 
of  Calvinism,  which  induced  in  that  age  a  kind  of 
religious  stoicism.  The  Bishops  were  permitted  to 
live  at  their  ease  apart  from  their  dioceses :  but 
chiefly  was  danger  apparent  from  the  host  of  itiner- 
ating lecturers,  and  others  who  had  been  ordained, 
harbouring  in  the  houses  of  private  individuals  as 
chaplains,  who  made  it  their  business  to  undermine 
the  Church,  proceed  from  place  to  place  inflaming 
the  zeal  of  the  people,  and  were  in  a  manner  re- 
moved from  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  by  not  having 
regular  benefices.  Against  these  men,  generally 
ignorant  and  violent  enthusiasts,  it  was  necessary 
to  be  specially  guarded,  because  they  endeavoured 
by  every  means  to  revive  the  predestinarian  con- 
troversy, which  had  been  already  productive  of  so 
much  mischief.  Even  the  testimony  of  the  Puritan 
historian,  though  designed  to  serve  a  different  pur- 
pose, is  conclusive  that  their  suppression  was  abso- 
lutely necessary.  They  inveighed  in  their  sermons 
against  every  thing  which  did  not  meet  their  fancy, 
"  they  were  strict  Calvinists,"  says  Neal ;  and  then 
he  adds,  as  if  the  exclusive  consequence  of  Cal- 
vinism, they  were  "  warm  and  affectionate  preachers, 
and  distinguished  themselves  by  a  religious  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  Day,  by  a  bold  opposition  to 
Popery  and  the  new  ceremonies,  and  by  an  uncom- 
mon severity  of  life.  This  affectation  of  piety  and 
austerity  excited  the  applause  of  the  ignorant  mul- 


496  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

titude,  who  were  delighted  to  hear  the  regular 
clergy  reviled  by  those  itinerating  preachers ;  and, 
to  crown  all,  they  were  openly  patronised  by  Ab- 
bot, who,  whether  from  conviction,  or  some  other 
cause,  thought  that  they,  and  they  only,  had  the 
Protestant  religion  at  heart,  and  would  fortify  their 
hearers  against  the  return  of  Popery  V  In  other 
words,  they  fell  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  fana- 
tical extravagance,  and  justified  Laud's  observation, 
that  they  were  dangerous  enemies  to  the  state,  be- 
cause by  their  extempore  prayers  and  sermons, 
which  they  amply  mixed  with  their  private  preju- 
dices, they  awakened  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
people,  and  excited  the  popular  clamour. 

In  order  that  the  evils  resulting  from  this  vagrant 
preaching  might  be  timely  averted,  in  the  month 
of  December,  1629,  after  a  correspondence  between 
Laud  and  Dr.  Harsnet,  Archbishop  of  York,  who  had 
succeeded  Montaigne,  before  the  latter,  to  adopt 
the  phrase  of  Heylin,  had  half-warmed  his  chair, 
certain  articles  were  drawn  out,  and  submitted  to 
the  King,  who,  sensible  of  their  importance,  imme- 
diately signed  them  when  they  were  presented  by 
Laud.  These  were  immediately  dispatched  to 
Archbishop  Abbot,  under  the  title  of  "His  Ma- 
jesty's Instructions  to  the  Most  Reverend  Father  in 
God,  George,  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  con- 
taining certain  orders  to  be  observed  and  put  in 

1  Heylin,  p.  188,  189.  Parliamentary  Hist.  vol.  viii.  p.  209, 
210.  Rush  worth,  part  ii.  p.  30,  31. 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  497 

execution  by  the  several  Bishops  in  his  Province." 
The  sum  of  these  instructions  was  simply  the 
ordination  of  proper  persons,  and  nine  particulars 
were  submitted  to  the  attention  of  the  Bishops — 
that  there  should  be  a  diligent  catechizing  on  the 
Sunday  afternoons  by  the  clergy — that  the  lecturers 
conduct  divine  service  according  to  the  Liturgy  of 
the  Church,  and  in  the  proper  canonicals — that  the 
lectures  in  market  towns  be  preached  by  orthodox 
-divines  of  the  diocese — that  every  lecturer  main- 
tained by  a  corporation  be  not  suffered  to  preach 
till  he  profess  his  willingness  to  take  upon  himself 
a  cure  of  souls — that  the  bishops  should  use  every 
means  to  obtain  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  lec- 
turers— that  none  but  persons  qualified  by  law  en- 
tertain private  chaplains — that  public  prayers  and 
catechisings  be  diligently  performed,  and  notice 
taken  of  absentees  and  recusants — that  the  bishops 
.shall  not  dispose  of  the  Church  lands  by  leases,  in 
prejudice  to  their  successors — and  that  an  account 
of  these  instructions  be  rendered  on  the  2d  day  of 
January  every  year.  These  instructions,  it  will  be 
admitted  by  every  impartial  mind,  were  not  only 
salutary  in  that  age  of  religious  knavery,  but  highly 
beneficial  to  the  advancement  of  rational  piety, 
apart  from  the  extravagances  of  enthusiasm  and 
private  interpretation.  It  is  a  trite  remark,  first 
made,  I  believe,  by  the  illustrious  Bishop  Bull,  that 
a  mere  preaching  church  cannot  stand  :  and  where- 
ever  there  is  too  much  respect  awarded  to  human 
effusions,  in  preference  to  the  more  solemn  duties 
VOL.  i-  K  k 


498  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

*  *      * 

of  prayer  and  praise,  and  catechising  the  young 
and  ignorant,  there  are  infallible  indications  of  some- 
thing wrong.  On  this  point,  too,  the  Romish  Regu- 
lars and  the  Puritan  enthusiasts,  like  the  modern 
Methodists,  remarkably  agreed  1.  Preaching  was 
the  grand  resort  of  the  Puritans,  as  it  was  of  the 
Regulars ;  in  many  cases  the  worship  of  God  was 
sacrificed  to  a  gratification  of  their  rhetorical  pro- 
pensities ;  and  stimulated  as  they  were  by  a  violent 
opposition  towards  the  Church,  their  effusions 
abounded  with  their  individual  opinions.  They 
forgot  that  the  sermon  is  no  part  of  public  wor- 
ship,— that  it  is  the  least  of  all  the  other  important 
duties  of  a  faithful  minister ;  and  they  excited  in 
the  populace  that  desire  for  hunting  after  novelties 
which  is  one  great  feature  of  schismatical  separa- 
tions. Hence,  their  votaries  disregarded  the  very 
essentials  of  Christianity,  and  placed  their  sole  de- 
pendence on  the  compositions  of  the  orator.  With 
them  it  was  not  he  who  was  the  most  moderate,  dili- 
gent, and  pious,  but  he  who  made  the  greatest 
noise,  who  displayed  the  greatest  apparent  fervor 
and  gesticulation,  whose  pedestris  copia  was  most 
agreeable  to  their  enthusiasm,  and  who  declaimed 
against  and  denounced  the  regular  clergy,  that  was 
certain  of  popular  applause  2.  In  this  there  is  a 

1  Bishop  Lavington's   Enthusiasm  of  the   Methodists  and 
Papists  considered,  8vo. 

2  A  similar  class  of  rhetoricians  obtained  both  at  Athens  and 
Rome  in  ancient  times.  In  the  former  city  were  the  Sophists,  who 
eventually  accomplished  the  death  of  the  virtuous  Socrates,  who 
penetrated  their  designs,  and  exposed  them  to  ridicule — a  class 


1629,]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  499 

striking  resemblance  to  the  religionists  of  the  pre- 
sent day,,  who  are  continually  on  the  search  after 
novelty,  who  seem  to  place  their  faith  on  the  sen- 
timents of  their  favorite  orator,  and  who  delight  in 
gaudy  parade,  fulsome  compliment,  and  vain  osten- 
tation in  certain  public  assemblies. 

I  would  indeed  regret  were  I  to  say  any  thing 
against  the  ordinance  of  preaching,  for  I  believe  it  in 
itself  a  most  important  duty,  but  the  opinion  of  the 
great  and  good  Bishop  Bull  on  this  subject,  with 
whose  sentiments  every  clergyman  ought  to  be 
familiar,  is  to  me  quite  conclusive.  It  was  a  most 
dangerous  principle  which  obtained  in  the  days  of 
Puritanism,  as  it  does  now,  to  call  the  composi- 
tion or  the  sentiments  of  any  frail  and  erring 
mortal  the  Gospel,  to  despise  every  other  minister 
who  does  not  indulge  in  the  same  style  of  phraseo- 
logy, and  who  does  not  delight  to  appear  in  certain 
public  assemblies  to  receive  the  greetings  of  reli- 
gious partisans.  For  true  religion  consists  neither 
in  a  fancied  evangelism,  nor  in  extravagant  gesti- 
culation, nor  in  an  impassioned  delivery,  nor  in  a 

of  men  concerning  whom  Plato  remarked,  "  Let  us  give  them 
crowns,  only  to  turn  them  the  more  honourably  out  of  our  do- 
minions." Had  Quintilian  heard  the  oratorical  displays  of  the. 
Puritans,  he  could  not  have  described  them  with  better  effect 
than  in  the  language  he  has  employed,  Inst.  lib.  ii.  cap.  12. 
"  Clamant  ubique,  et  omnia  levata  (ut  ipsi  dicunt)  manu  emu- 
giunt,  multo  discursu,  anhelitu,  jactatione,  gestu,  motuque  ca- 
pitis  furentes — mire  ad  pullatum  circulum  facit — cum  ille  eru* 
<litus  modestus  et  esse,  et  videri  malit — at  illi  hanc  vim  appel- 
lant, quae  est  potius  violentia." 

Kk2 


500  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

peculiar  religious  phraseology,  nor  in  the  parade 
and  bustle  of  missionary  assemblies ;  and  still  less 
does  it  consist  in  merely  popular  discourses,  to 
which  the  religionists  repair,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  worshipping  God,  that  is,  for  prayer  and  praise, 
for  if  there  were  nothing  else  they  would  not  go 
at  all,  but  to  hear  their  favourite  orator,  to  be  de- 
lighted by  his  eloquence,  manifesting  the  utmost 
impatience  till  he  makes  his  appearance.  What! 
shall  the  public  service  of  God  be  prostituted  for 
the  gratification  of  human  passions  ?  Shall  men  and 
women,  possessed  of  immortal  souls,  proceed  to 
the  Christian  temple  as  they  would  do  to  the  arena 
of  florid  declamation,  compliments,  and  religious 
partisanship  ?  Shall  they  dare  to  be  impatient 
during  that  holy  service  of  praise,  prayer,  and 
reading  of  the  inspired  canon,  which  the  wisdom 
of  the  Church  has  enjoined,  until  the  idol  of  popu- 
lar applause  appear  and  commence  his  rhetorical 
harangue  ?  And  shall  they  hang  on  the  words  of  a 
sinful  man,  and  place  them  above  the  reading  of 
the  gospel  message  ?  It  is  sickening  and  deplora- 
ble. How  different  is  true  religion  from  such  lament- 
able fanaticism  and  daring  contempt  of  Heaven, 
both  in  the  preacher  and  his  adherents  !  Quiet  and 
unobtrusive,  true  religion  takes  up  its  abode  in  the 
heart,  shunning  all  ostentation  and  popular  ap- 
plause, disdaining  the  ephemeral  celebrity  of  dan- 
gerous and  misguided  zeal,  and  teaching  its  pos- 
sessor to  direct  his  humble  aspirations  towards 
Heaven,  to  reverence  the  sacred  and  venerable 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  501 

institutions  of  the  Church,  and  to  guard  against 
that  hollow  liberality  which  is  as  superficial  and 
evanescent  as  the  morning  dew. 

The  King,  as  well  as  Laud,  was  extremely  sus- 
picious of  those  itinerating  lecturers,  and  not  with- 
out reason,  as  will  immediately  appear.  Lecturers 
were  of  three  classes — those  who  were  obtruded 
into  the  cures  of  the  regular  ministry,  and  endea- 
voured to  engross  the  popularity  of  the  people, 
• — those  who  held  combination  lectureships,  who 
preached  in  rotation  in  a  market-town, — and  run- 
ning or  itinerating  lecturers,  who  preached  first  at 
church,  then  at  private  houses,  then  in  the  adjoin- 
ing parishes,  and  so  on,  the  preacher,  after  abusing 
the  institutions  of  the  Church,  and  declaiming 
against  its  doctrine  and  discipline,  always  announc- 
ing to  his  satellites  where  he  was  next  to  be  found. 
Such  irregularities  deserved  especially  to  be  sup- 
pressed ;  yet  Archbishop  Abbot  thought  otherwise, 
for  though  he  was  obliged  to  communicate  the  in- 
structions to  his  suffragan  Bishops,  he  did  so  only  in 
an  official  manner,  but  in  private  he  acted  in  direct 
contrariety,  determined  to  patronise  his  friends, 
and  thus  affording  another  instance  of  his  disregard 
for  the  Church.  Dr.  Kingsly,  Archdeacon  of 
Canterbury,  conformably  to  the  official  instruc-^ 
tions  he  had  received  from  the  Metropolitan,  sus- 
pended two  preachers,  named  Palmer  and  Udney, 
for  refusing  to  conform  to  the  King's  directions. 
The  one  was  lecturer  of  St.  Alphage,  Canterbury, 
the  other  of  Ashford,  in  the  same  diocese.  They 


502  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

were  both  charged  with  having  no  licence  to  preach, 
officiating  against  the  inclinations  of  the  incum- 
bents,, catechising  against  the  terms  of  the  canon, 
misinterpreting  the  King's  instructions,  refusing  to 
read  prayers,  or  to  wear  the  surplice ;  and  Palmer, 
in  particular,  had  preached  a  seditious  sermon  in 
the  Cathedral,  had  spoken  in  contempt  of  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church,  and  had  all  the  seditious  per- 
sons in  the  neighbourhood  for  his  auditors.  Yet 
Abbot,  to  shew  his  authority,  and  his  favour  for  the 
zealots,  not  only  authorized  them  both  to  resume 
their  lectureships,  but  prohibited  the  Archdeacon  to 
take  cognisance  of  them,  and  frowned  on  those  who 
presumed  to  animadvert  on  his  conduct.  No  step 
could  have  been  more  impolitic,  even  admitting 
that  the  lecturers  were  harshly  treated.  It  could 
not  fail  to  increase  the  boldness  of  the  faction,  and 
when  the  above-mentioned  seditious  behaviour  was 
thus  openly  patronised,  it  was  not  to  be  thought 
that  they  would  confine  themselves  to  general  de- 
clamations. 

"  If  a  house  be  divided  against  itself/'  saith  the 
Divine  Founder  of  Christianity,  "  it  cannot  stand," 
and  of  the  truth  of  this,  the  Church  of  England  at 
this  period  afforded  a  melancholy  example.  The 
vigour  of  its  friends  was  counteracted  by  such  pro- 
ceedings, and  the  Church  sapped  at  its  foundation. 
Abbot's  conduct  was  reported  at  Court,  and,  of 
course,  it  was  duly  censured :  but  it  was  thought 
most  expedient  to  pass  it  over  in  silence,  on  ac- 
count of  his  infirmities,  and  the  moroseness  of  his 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  503 

disposition.  But  Laud  determined  to  investigate 
the  state  of  his  own  diocese,  more  especially  as  in  the 
metropolis  numbers  could  conceal  themselves  for  a 
time,  and  carry  on  their  designs.  The  clamours  of 
the  Puritans  against  these  instructions  were  great : 
they  declared  that  they  were  intended  to  suppress 
preaching  altogether ;  and  with  them  every  thing 
depended  on  sermons.  The  diminishing  of  the 
number  of  private  chaplains  offended  as  well  those 
who  entertained  them  as  the  chaplains  themselves  •  ; 
while  even  the  poorer  bishops  were  by  no  means 
satisfied  at  being  obliged  to  betake  themselves  to 
their  remote  dioceses,  where  they  were  subject  to  an 
expence  which  their  revenues  could  not  bear.  As  to 
the  Puritanlecturers,  nothing  could  annoy  themmore 
than  to  be  compelled  to  catechise  ;  they  had  always 
derided  and  neglected  this  most  important  duty,  or 
treated  it  with  contempt,  thinking  that  sermons  on 
their  favourite  topics  of  election  and  predestination 
were  admirably  adapted  for  persons  who,  in  truth, 
required  to  be  instructed  in  the  first  principles  of 
religion.  To  wear  gown  and  surplice  was  a  dread- 
ful punishment  to  them,  while  they  equally  depre- 
cated being  restricted  to  a  cure  of  souls,  as  by  that 
means  they  would  be  deprived  of  their  popularity. 

1  Heylin,  p.  191.  "Nor  were  the  chaplains  better  pleased 
than  their  masters.  For  having  lived  upon  hard  commons,  and 
perhaps  under  some  smart  discipline  also  in  their  halls  and  col- 
leges, they  thought  they  had  spent  their  studies  to  good  purpose, 
by  finding  ease  and  a  full  belly  in  those  gentlemen's  houses  from 
whom  there  was  some  possibility  of  preferment,  which  better 
scholars  than  themselves  might  have  otherwise  hoped  for." 


504  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

But  Laud  summoned  them  before  him,  pressed 
upon  them  the  necessity  of  these  instructions,  in- 
formed them  that  he  was  determined  to  put  them 
in  execution,  and  directed  letters  to  all  his  Arch- 
deacons to  the  same  effect,  as  did  all  the  other 
bishops,  "  but  slackening  by  degrees,  when  the 
heat  was  over,"  says  Heylin,  "  possibly  in  a  short 
time  they  had  not  been  looked  into  at  all,  if  Abbot 
had  continued  much  longer  in  the  See  of  Canter- 
bury, or  if  his  Majesty  had  not  enjoined  the 
bishops  to  give  him  an  exact  account  of  their  pro- 
ceedings in  the  said  particulars,  not  once  for  all, 
but  annually,  on  the  second  of  January." 

The  conduct  of  those  lecturers  made  this  cogni- 
zance absolutely  necessary,  as  will  appear  from  the 
following  specimens  of  their  devotions  and  instruc- 
tions. One  Nathaniel  Barnard,  lecturer  of  St. 
Sepulchre's,  London,  prayed  thus  before  his  ser- 
mon, "  Lord,  open  the  eyes  of  the  Queen's  Ma- 
jesty, that  she  may  see  Jesus  Christ,  whom  she 
hath  pierced  with  her  infidelity,  superstition,  and 
idolatry  V  For  this  he  was  of  course  called  to  ac- 

1  This  same  preacher,  however,  abused  Laud's  leniency,  who 
had  merely  dismissed  him  on  his  expression  of  sorrow.  Three 
years  afterwards,  he  preached  a  sermon  before  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  from  1  Sam.  iv.  21,  in  which  he  declared  that 
Romish  superstitions  were  introduced  into  the  Church.  Being 
called  into  the  commission  court  for  introducing  subjects  foreign 
to  his  purpose,  and  for  making  assertions  which  he  could  not 
prove,  he  dogmatically  refused  to  retract,  and  was  accordingly 
suspended,  fined  1000L,  and  committed  to  prison.  Rushworth, 
vol.  ii.  Part  ii.  p.  140,  141,  142.  Hume's  History,  vol.  vi. 


1629.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  505 

count.  Charles  Chaucey,  vicar  of  Ware,  declared 
in  his  sermon,  that  "  idolatry  was  admitted  into 
the  Church, — that  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
would  be  suppressed — that  there  is  much  Atheism, 
Popery,  Arminianism,  and  heresy  crept  into  the 
Church."  His  case  was  remitted  to  Laud,  and  all 
that  the  Bishop  required  of  him  was  to  make  a 
submission  in  Latin  l.  Sharpe,  one  of  the  preben- 
daries of  Durham,  preached  a  fiery  sermon  from 
the  passage  of  Scripture,  "  I  hate  all  those  that 
love  superstitious  vanities,  but  thy  law  do  I  love :" 
which  harangue  was  occasioned  by  some  paintings 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Durham.  This  occasioned  his 
committal  to  prison,  deprivation  of  his  prebend, 
excommunication,  and  fine  of  500/.  One  declared  in 
his  sermon,  that  the  gospel  stood  on  tip-toe,  and  was 
departing  to  New  England :  while  others  indulged  in 
metaphorical  language,  and  affected  to  speak  in  para- 
bles and  prophecies.  Some  preached  long  sermons 
against  windows  of  stained  glass,  which  they  reckoned 
an  awful  innovation ;  and  a  Bencher  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  who  will  be  more  particularly  noticed,  was  pro- 
secuted for  imitating  the  actions  of  his  violent  friends, 
and,  by  a  daring  and  sacrilegious  outrage,  demolish- 
ing a  painted  window  in  St.  Edmund's  Church, 

1  Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  34.  This  preacher,  also,  six  years 
afterwards,  thought  proper  to  distinguish  himself  by  opposing 
the  railing  of  the  communion-table  in  the  parish  church,  "  as  a 
snare  and  innovation  to  men's  consciences."  He  was  also  fined, 
and  imprisoned,  but  again  dismissed,  on  promising  submission. 
Rushworth,  ut  sup.  p.  316. 


506  ^LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1629. 

Salisbury,  though  he  and  his  confederates  had  been 
warned  by  the  Bishop.  He  was  fined  500/.  and 
removed  from  his  office  of  Recorder  of  Salisbury. 
In  short,  their  insolence  and  outrages  were  so  in- 
decent, as  to  become  intolerable ;  the  regular 
clergy,  who,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duty, 
confined  themselves  to  the  Liturgy  and  Homilies, 
were  called  Dumb  Dogs ;  and  the  bishops,  Men  of 
blood,  Followers  of  Antichrist. 

Perhaps,  in  some  cases,  the  punishments  exceeded 
the  offence,  abstractedly  considered ;  but,  it  must 
be  recollected,  that  the  offence  was  rendered  more 
heinous  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  offenders,  and  that 
it  was  necessary  to  restrain  the  seditious  enthu-^ 
siasm  which  was  studiously  excited  among  the 
people.  In  that  age  of  religious  zeal,  those  disaf- 
fected preachers  made  it  their  constant  practice  to 
lecture  from  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  and  they  chose 
all  those  passages  which  at  once  informed  their 
auditors  of  the  opinions  they  were  to  advance.  It 
is,  indeed,  difficult  to  prove  that  the  Puritans  had 
any  extraordinary  regard  for  religion,  or  were  ac- 
tuated otherwise  than  by  determined  opposition ; 
for  who  will  justify  men  who  made  the  pulpit,  from 
which  ought  to  be  proclaimed  the  solemn  truths  of 
man's  salvation,  the  place  for  uttering  their  poli- 
tical and  religious  prejudices,  courting  partisans, 
and  gratifying  the  vulgar  notions  of  the  rabble  ? 
And  yet  this  was  invariably  their  practice,  which 
they  were  enabled  to  do  with  great  facility,  by  in- 
dulging in  extemporaneous  effusions.  Hence  it  is, 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  507 

that  while  all  the  productions  of  the  Church  at  that 
period,  with  the  exceptions  before  specified l,  have 
no  bearing  at  all  on  the  public  distractions,  save 
the  general  inculcation  of  peace  and  unity,  the 
Puritan  performances  are,  to  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree, the  monuments  of  that  determined  hatred 
which  they  continually  evinced.  And  if  men  will 
so  far  forget  themselves  as  to  blend  political  pre- 
judices with  the  great  truths  of  Christianity,  and 
endeavour  to  find  precedents  in  the  history  of  Pa- 
lestine for  exciting  the  fanaticism  of  the  multitude  on 
the  passing  events  of  the  day,  thereby  encouraging 
disaffection  and  inflaming  the  popular  discontent, 
surely  no  visionary  declamation  concerning  liberty 
can  restrain  a  civil  government  from  taking  cogni- 
zance of  such  malcontents,  nor  is  it  inconsistent 
with  the  spirit  of  freedom  to  make  examples  of  them 
to  others.  At  least,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten,  that 
the  leaders  of  a  faction  are  the  most  dangerous 
enemies  of  good  government,  which  ought  to  pro- 
mote and  maintain  respect  for  established  institu- 
tions, and  riot  to  sacrifice  these  by  a  pretended 
liberal  remissness,  for  the  purpose  of  gratifying  the 
whims  and  the  prejudices  of  disaffected  religionists. 
The  year  1630  was  introduced  by  an  event  which 
procured  for  Laud  new  honours,  and  enabled  him 
to  display  his  generous  disposition  by  fresh  acts  of 
munificence  and  splendor.  On  the  10th  of  April, 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  Chancellor  of  the  Univer- 

1  Doctors  Sibthorpe  and  Manwaring. 


508  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

sity  of  Oxford,  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy,  and  Laud 
was  elected  to  succeed  him,  though  not  without 
some  opposition.  The  faction  opposed  to  him,  in- 
significant, indeed,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  his  old  enemy,  proposed  to  elect 
the  Earl  of  Montgomery,  Pembroke's  brother,  and 
the  four  Colleges  in  the  visitation  of  that  bishop, 
namely,  Baliol,  Oriel,  Lincoln,  and  Brazennose, 
accordingly  endeavoured  to  promote  an  opposition. 
But,  on  the  12th,  a  Convocation  was  held,  and 
Laud  was  chosen  Chancellor  of  the  University *. 
On  the  28th,  in  solemn  Convocation  at  London- 
house,  he  was  invested  with  the  authority  of  his 
high  office,  with  the  applause  of  the  King,,  who 
testified  that  he  knew  none  more  worthy  of  that 
office  than  the  Bishop  of  London.  Laud  well  de- 
served this  mark  of  respect,  both  from  his  eminence, 
and  from  his  activity  and  diligence  in  discharging 
the  important  duties,  the  University  being  "ex- 

1  In  the  election  of  Laud  to  the  Chancellorship,  the  party 
against  him  was  thought  to  be  more  numerous  (Wood,  Antiq. 
Oxon.  vol.  ii.  p.  368)  :  and  Prynne,  therefore,  asserts,  (Canter- 
burie's  Doome,  p.  71,)  "  that  by  indirect  means  he  procured 
himself  to  be  elected  Chancellor,  and  that  the  noble  brother  to 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  was  then  really  elected  by  most  voices, 
though  miscalculated  by  practice  in  the  scrutiny  by  this  prelate's 
creatures."  But  this  is  not  the  case,  for  Pembroke's  death 
was  sudden  and  unexpected,  and  Laud  could  not  possibly  have 
time  to  employ  "  indirect  means,"  because  Pembroke  died  on 
10th  of  November,  and  he  was  chosen  Chancellor  on  the  12th, 
nor  did  he  know  that  he  was  chosen  till  it  was  formally  notified 
to  him.  (Diary,  p.  45.) 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  509 

tremely  sunk  from  all  discipline,  and  fallen  into 
licentiousness/'  The  great  patron  of  learning  and 
religion,  the  promoter  of  salutary  government  and 
discipline,  and  the  munificent  benefactor  to  all  in- 
stitutions of  piety  and  charity,  it  was  right  that  he 
should  be  placed  in  a  situation  where  the  beneficent 
activity  of  his  great  mind  would  be  unrestrained. 
From  this  time  forward,  it  was  his  study  to  adorn 
that  splendid  seat  of  learning  .with  sumptuous  build- 
ings, to  enrich  it  with  most  valuable  manuscripts, 
which  he  spared  no  expence  to  procure,  and  with 
books  of  the  greatest  value.  These  are  actions 
which  ought  to  atone  for  many  imperfections.  Un- 
fortunately, this  great  man  lived  in  an  age  when 
his  genius  and  his  worth  were  appreciated  only  by  a 
few :  but,  had  his  lot  been  cast  in  an  age  when  reason 
and  genuine  religion  prevailed  over  enthusiasm 
and  affected  purity  of  doctrine,  who  would  have 
dared  to  impeach  his  illustrious  character,  or  have 
exposed  himself  to  contempt  and  indignation,  by 
pronouncing  his  memory  "  infamous  ?" 

Religious  bigotry  and  a  love  of  learning  and  liter- 
ature are  very  rarely  combined  in  the  same  person. 
Bigotry  depends  on  ignorance  for  support;  it  is 
identified  with  intolerance,  and  intolerance  exists 
chiefly  where  ignorance  prevails.  But  the  man 
who  pretends  to  establish  bigotry,  which,  however, 
like  the  term  liberality,  is  extremely  vague  and 
capable  of  various  definitions,  must  unquestionably 
be  disappointed  in  his  speculations,  at  least  if  he 


510  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

attempt  to  introduce  that  species  of  bigotry  to  which 
I  allude,  which  was  practised  to  the  very  letter  by 
the  Church  of  Rome,  the  English  Puritans,  and  the 
Scottish  Covenanters.  For  that  is  only  bigotry,  I 
conceive,  which  induces  us  to  imagine  that  there  is 
no  salvation  out  of  the  communion  to  which  we  are 
attached  ;  but  that  cannot  be  bigotry  which  asserts 
that  there  is  salvation  both  out  of  Rome  and  out  of 
a  Conventicle,  and  which  induces  us  to  adhere  to 
the  Church,  and  to  oppose  the  arts  of  designing 
men,  who,  in  their  endeavours  for  power,  would 
overthrow  and  trample  under  foot  the  most  sacred 
institutions.  When  men  are  stimulated  by  bad 
passions,  or  by  the  bitterness  of  disappointment, 
they  forget  the  respect  due  to  antiquity  in  their 
attachment  to  ideal  novelties ;  they  forget  that  a 
venerable  structure  may  remain  while  its  interior  is 
purged  from  the  grosser  corruptions ;  they  forget 
that  antiquity  has  a  voice  above  modern  innovations, 
yea,  even  tradition  above  fanciful  modern  notions. 
Laud,  by  his  patronage  of  learning,  could  not,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  be  a  bigot,  and  consequently 
he  was  not  intolerant,  otherwise  his  actions  betrayed 
an  erroneous  calculation.  "  But  his  princely  mag- 
nificence," says  Ockley,  "  in  being  tit  prodigious 
expence  to  restore  Oriental  learning  in  these  nor- 
thern climates,  both  by  purchasing  such  an  excel- 
lent collection  of  authors  in  the  East,  and  encou- 
raging men  of  abilities  to  apply  themselves  that 
way,  cannot,  without  the  greatest  ingratitude,  be 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  511 

passed  over  in  silence,  by  any  one  that  has  clue 
regard  to  Oriental  learning  V  His  munificence  in 
this  and  other  respects,  from  the  year  he  obtained  the 
Chancellorship  of  Oxford,  till  the  day  that  he  sent 
his  pious  and  affecting  resignation  of  that  high 
office  from  the  Tower,  will  be  hereafter  particularly 
mentioned.  No  fewer  than  thirteen  hundred  MS S. 
did  this  great  man  present  to  the  University  of 
Oxford,  in  the  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Chaldee,  Egyptian, 
Ethiopian,  Armenian,  Persian,  Arabic,  Russian, 
Turkish,  Japanese, Chinese,  Greek,  Latin,  Italian, 
French,  Saxon,  English,  and  Irish  languages,  as 
the  inscription  in  the  Bodleian  Library  sets  forth. 
Who  can  calculate  the  expence  of  this  collection,  or 
the  means  by  which  it  was  acquired !  It  would 
seem  to  require  a  lifetime  to  be  employed  in  a  work 
so  praiseworthy  to  himself,  so  honourable  to  the 
English  nation  and  to  the  University  of  which  he 
was  the  head  and  ornament. 

Being  thus  installed  Chancellor  of  his  own  Uni- 
versity, Laud's  activity  and  noble  works  were  soon 
conspicuous.  Some  weeks  afterwards,  he  was 
called  to  discharge  another  duty,  the  appointment 
to  which  was  honourable  to  himself.  On  the  29th 
of  May,  1630,  a  day  subsequently  ever-memorable 
in  the  annals  of  England,  the  Queen  was  delivered 
of  a  prince  at  St.  James's,  afterwards  Charles  IT. 
Laud  was  in  the  palace  at  the  time,  and  within  an 

1  Simon  Ockley's  Conquest  of  Syria,  Persia,  and  Egypt,  by 
the  Saracens,  8vo.  London,  1708,  vol.  i.  pref.  p.  xviii.  xi-x. 

7 


512  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

hour  after  the  birth  of  the  future  heir  of  the  House 
of  Stuart,  whose  youthful  years  were  destined  to  be 
clouded  by  adversity  and  exile,  he  held  the  infant 
prince  in  his  arms.  On  June  27,  he  officiated  as 
Dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  and  baptized  the  Prince, 
though  that  office  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  sovereign  and  his  family 
being  reckoned  parishioners  of  the  metropolitan, 
who,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  ought  to  attend  in  the 
royal  household  on  these  important  occasions.  But 
Charles  had  not  been  an  inattentive  observer  of 
Abbot's  conduct,  and  the  patronage  which  he  had 
awarded  to  Palmer  and  Udney  was  by  no  means 
agreeable  to  the  monarch.  Avowed  personal  hos- 
tility between  Abbot  and  Laud  had  ceased.  The 
former  had  seen  all  his  opposition  to  ruin  the  latter 
unavailing,  and  the  gloominess  of  his  disposition 
operated  with  the  infirmities  of  age  to  make  him 
live  in  retirement.  Laud  modestly  excuses  him  by 
saying  that  he  was  then  "  very  infirm,"  which  was 
the  fact ;  but  perhaps  Heylin's  observation  is  cor- 
rect, that  at  court  <e  his  company  was  not  very 
desirable."  It  was  an  evident  disregard  of  the 
Archbishop,  and  a  sufficient  indication  of  especial 
favour  towards  the  man  whom  he  had  persecuted, 
but  whose  life  was  a  practical  demonstration  of  the 
truth,  that  integrity  and  virtue  will  eventually 
triumph  over  falsehood  and  reproach  ]. 

1  At  the  birth  of  Charles,  the  Puritan  faction  partook  not  of 
the  general  joy.     The  ringleaders  were  zealously  affected  to- 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  513 

But  while  Laud  was  thus  diligently  discharging 
his  important  duties,  the  fatal  predestinarian  con- 
troversy was  again  revived,  notwithstanding  the 
injunctions  of  the  Church  to  bury  that  dogma  in 
oblivion,  and  the  recommendation  to  the  clergy  to 
confine  themselves  exclusively  to  the  doctrines  ^f 
Scripture.  Dr.  John  Davenant,  Bishop  of  Salisbury, 
one  of  those  who  had  been  sent  by  King  James 
to  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and  who  had  declared  for 
universal  redemption  there,  in  a  sermon  preached 
before  the  Court  during  Lent,  from  Rom.  vi.  23., 
discoursed  on  this  subject,  in  open  violation  of  the 
King's  instructions  to  the  Bishops.  As  it  would 

wards  James'  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  and  wished  that 
the  succession  might  end  with  Charles  in  her  favour.  At  a 
public  feast,  held  in  Friday  Street,  London,  one  of  their  chiefs 
declared  that  "  he  could  see  no  cause  of  rejoicing,  because  God 
had  already  better  provided  for  them,  in  giving  such  a  hopeful 
progeny  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  brought  up  in  the  Reformed 
Religion,  while  it  was  uncertain  what  religion  the  King's  chil- 
dren would  follow,  being  to  be  brought  up  by  a  mother  de- 
voted to  the  Church  of  Rome."  Dr.  Heylin,  who  lived  at  the 
time,  relates  a  fact  in  his  own  experience,  which  shews  the 
disposition  of  the  whole  party.  "  I  remember,"  says  he,  "  be- 
ing at  a  town  in  Gloucestershire,  when  the  news  came  of  the 
prince's  birth.  There  was  a  great  joy  evinced  by  all  the  parish, 
in  causing  bonfires  to  be  made,  the  bells  to  be  rung,  and  send- 
ing victuals  unto  those  of  the  younger  sort,  who  were  most 
busily  employed  in  the  public  joy.  But  from  the  rest  of  the 
houses,  being  of  the  Presbyterian  or  Puritan  faction,  there  came 
neither  man,  nor  child,  nor  wood,  nor  victuals,  their  doors  being 
shut  all  the  evening,  as  in  a  time  of  general  mourning  and  dis- 
consolation." 

VOL.  I.  L  1 


514  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

have  afforded  matter  of  triumph  to  the  Predestina- 
rians,  had  Davenant  been  suffered  to  pass  unnoticed, 
and  the  silence  would  either  have  been  interpreted 
by  them  as  a  virtual  acknowledgment  of  the  tenet,  or 
as  inability  to  deny  or  refute  it,  the  Bishop  was  sum- 
moned two  days  afterwards  before  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil. Harsnet,  Archbishop  of  York,  conducted  the 
business  against  him.  "  Bishop  Laud,"  says  Fuller, 
"  walking  by  all  the  while  in  silence,  spake  not  one 
word."  After  some  severe  remarks  by  Harsnet, 
the  Bishop,  on  proffering  his  submission  and  ac- 
knowledgment that  he  had  misunderstood  the 
King's  Declaration,  was  dismissed 1.  This  is  ano- 
ther instance  of  the  impartiality  of  the  King  and 
Laud,  who  did  not  wish  the  doctrine  to  be  handled 
at  all.  Various  others  of  lesser  note  were  also 
called  to  account  for  their  behaviour,  and  some  of 
them  prohibited  to  preach  within  the  Diocese  of 
London,  unless  they  refrained  from  touching  on  a 
dogma  which,  as  the  King  well  remarked,  was  far 
above  the  comprehension  of  the  people. 

Laud's  vigorous  measures  to  preserve  the  peace 
and  unity  of  the  Church,  amidst  these  religious  dis- 
tractions, had  raised  against  him  a  number  of  ene- 
mies, who  attacked  him  both  from  the  pulpit  and 
the  press,  who  were  privately  suborned  by  their 
faction.  The  case  of  one  of  these,  by  far  the  most 
violent  of  the  party,  was  now  to  occupy  the  atten- 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  138—141.     Prynne's 
Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  155,  156.  173,  174. 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  515 

tion  of  the  public,  and  as  Laud  has  incurred  the 
odium  of  his  punishment,  the  case  must  be  fairly 
and  impartially  stated. 

During  the  sitting  of  the  Parliament,  Alexander 
Leighton,  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  minister,  and  a 
doctor  of  divinity,  had  published  a  volume,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Puritan  faction,  which  he  dignified 
with  the  title  of  "  An  Appeal  to  the  Parliament,  or 
Zion's  Plea  against  Prelacy ;"  and  he  had  studiously 
stationed  himself  at  the  door  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  presented  it  to  various  of  the  members 
of  the  House,  by  the  way  of  inflaming  their  zeal 
concerning  the  national  turbulence.  This  man, 
whom  Heylin  deservedly  calls  a  "  fiery  Puritan 
zealot  V  and  whom,  says  Fuller,  in  his  usual  face- 
tious manner,  "  had  he  been  an  Englishman,  we 
durst  call  him  B, furious,  but  now  we  will  term  him 
a  fiery  (whence  kindled  let  others  guess)  member 2" 
had  endeavoured  to  excite  tumult  and  rebellion, 
his  book  consisting  of  a  "continual  railing  from 
beginning  to  end."  His  other  book,  entitled,  "  A 
Looking-Glass  for  the  Holy  War,"  was  written  in 
the  same  spirit. 

This  zealot  was  father  to  the  famous  Dr.  Robert 
Leighton,  successively  Principal  of  the  University 
of  Edinburgh,  Bishop  of  Dunblane,  and  Archbishop 

1  Heylin,  p.  187. 

a  Fuller,  ut  sup.  p.  136.  He  is  termed  by  Rushworth,  vol.  iii. 
Append,  p.  29,  and  by  Whitelock,  p.  15,  a  Roman  Catholic. 
This  is  a  mistake  :  for  the  rectifying  of  which,  see  Fuller,  as 
quoted. 

Ll2 


516  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630- 

of  Glasgow,  a  prelate  who,  though  unquestionably 
pious  and  sincere,  would  not  have  received  so  much 
of  the  sectarian  applause,  had  he  been  active  and 
vigorous  in  the  cause  of  the  unfortunate  and  now 
too  humble  Church  of  which  he  was  a  dignitary. 
He  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  in  1587,  and  imbibed 
largely  that  fanaticism  and  desire  for  spiritual  novel- 
ties which  Andrew  Melville  had  imported  from 
Geneva.  He  was  educated  at  the  College  of  King 
James  VI.  and  University  there,  in  which  he  became, 
it  is  said,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy.  Towards 
the  latter  part  of  James'  reign,  he  came  to  London, 
probably  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession,  being 
also  a  Doctor  of  Physic  ;  but  nothing  is  known  of 
him,  nor  would  he,  perhaps,  have  emerged  from  his 
obscurity,  had  he  not  excited  public  notoriety  by 
his  treasonable  book.  So  dangerous  was  it  in  that 
factious  age,  and  so  violent  were  some  of  the  ex- 
pressions, that  when  the  information  was  laid  against 
him  in  the  Star-Chamber,  on  the  4th  of  June  1630, 
the  two  Chief  Justices  gave  it  as  their  opinion, 
that  "if  the  case  had  come  before  them,  they  would 
have  proceeded  against  him  for  treason,"  and  some 
of  the  Lords  declared,  that  "  it  was  from  his  Ma- 
jesty's great  mercy  and  goodness  that  he  was 
brought  to  receive  the  sentence  of  that  Court,  and 
not  arraigned  as  a  traitor  at  another  bar."  That 
the  book  was  intended  to  bear  against  Laud  and 
the  Lord  Treasurer  Weston,  is  unquestionable  ;  for 
it  appeared  at  the  very  time  when  the  popular 
odium  was  excited  against  them,  when  the  two 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  517 

libellous  threats  were  found  in  the  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  yard  ;  nor  is  it  at  all  improbable  that  Leigh- 
ton  knew  who  were  the  writers.  In  "  Ziori's  Plea  " 
as  he  impiously  termed  it,  this  enthusiast  libelled 
the  King,  Peers,  and  Bishops ;  he  says,  that  "  we 
do  not  read  of  greater  persecution  and  higher  in- 
dignity done  upon  God's  people,  in  any  nation  pro- 
fessing the  gospel,  than  in  this  our  island,  especially 
since  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;"  he  terms  the 
prelates  "  men  of  blood,  enemies  to  God  and  the 
state,"  and  that  their  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance within  this  realm  is  a  "  snare  and  master-sin 
established  by  law."  He  declared  the  Church  "  to 
be  Antichristian  and  Satanical,"  the  Bishops  "  ra- 
vens and  magpies  that  prey  upon  the  state."  The 
canons  of  the  Church  are  termed  by  this  fanatical 
dabbler,  "  nonsense  canons."  He  abused  the  act 
of  kneeling  at  the  Communion,  declaring  that  the 
Bishops  "  brought  forth  that  received  spawn  of  the 
Beast,  kneeling  at  the  sacrament."  The  Queen  he 
styled  "  a  Canaanite,  a  daughter  of  hell,  an  idola- 
tress." He  commended  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  advised  others  to  do  the  like. 
In  every  page  he  abused  the  King  and  Queen,  the 
Government  and  the  Constitution  :  he  incites  the 
rabble  to  smite  the  Bishops  under  the  fifth  rib  ;  he 
quotes  passages  from  the  Jewish  Scriptures  to 
strengthen  his  advice  ;  and  then,  by  a  crafty  device, 
he  thought  to  escape  the  censure  of  the  King,  by 
throwing  all  the  odium  on  his  advisers  1. 

1  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  i.  Part  2.  p.  55,  56.  and  vol. 
iii.  App.  p.  29. 


518  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

Leighton  did  not  deny  that  he  wrote  the  book, 
but  he  maintained  that  he  did  it  from  no  ill  design, 
and  that  his  design  was  merely  to  draw  the  at- 
tention of  Parliament  to  the  national  grievances,  and 
thereby  induce  them  to  adopt  such  measures  as 
might  tend  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  State, 
and  the  honour  of  the  King.     This  lame  defence 
was,  in  effect,  a  justification  of  his  printed  assertions, 
otherwise  he  must   have  thought  that  his  judges 
were  destitute  of  common  sense.     He  was  accord- 
ingly sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  Fleet  Prison 
during  his  life,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  £  10,000  to  the 
King.     He  was  then,  in  respect  to  his  ecclesiastical 
functions,  referred  to  the  High  Commission,  because 
the    other  Court   could  not  inflict  any   corporal 
punishment  on  persons  while  in  holy  orders ;  where 
being  degraded  from  his  ministry,  he  was  brought 
back,  and  sentenced  to  be  placed  in  the  pillory  at 
Westminster  during  the  sitting  of  the  Court,  and 
there  whipped :  after  his  whipping  to  have  one  of 
his  ears  cut  off,  his  nose  slit,  his  forehead  branded 
with  S.  S.  for  seditious  slanderer,  and  then  con- 
ducted to  prison.     At  another  time,  he  was  to  be 
placed  in  the  pillory  at  Cheapside,  his  other  ear  cut 
off,  again  whipped,  and  then  conducted  to  prison,  till 
his  Majesty  should  be  pleased  to  set  him  at  liberty. 
Such  was  the  sentence  passed  against  this  unfor- 
tunate man,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  was 
severe  ;  that  it  excites  the  shudder  of  humanity ; 
and  that  the  punishment  of  this  man,  who  was  a 
fitter  inmate  for  a  madhouse  than  a  prison,  far  ex- 
ceeded his  offence.     It  is  not  my  intention  to  ani- 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  519 

madvert  on  this  sentence,  only  severe  with  respect 
to  the  cutting  off  the  ears,  the  slitting  of  the  nose, 
and  the*  branding  of  the  forehead,  which,  however, 
were  the  modes  of  punishment  in  that  age;  but 
yet  it  was  not  without  aggravation.    Even  Neal,  the 
champion  of  Puritanism,  says  that  he  was  guilty  of 
«  very  great  rudeness  and  indecency  ;"  arid  declares 
that  "  the  warmth  of  his  expressions  is  not  to  be 
justified."     It  is  my  object  to  investigate  how  far  it 
is  chargeable  on  Laud,  or  if  he  had  any  concern  in 
it  at  all ;  though  I  must  here  observe,  that  circum- 
stances must  be  taken  into  account,  which  will  at  least 
palliate  the  sentence,  and  the  conduct  of  Leighton's 
judges.     The  man  who  willingly  and  deliberately 
publishes  sedition  to  the  world,  and  excites  his  fellow- 
subjects  to  rebellion  and  blood,  is  a  much  greater 
criminal  than  another  man,  who  may  have  given  ut- 
terance to  such  sentiments  in  the  momentary  excite- 
ment of  passion.     On  this  same  principle,  the  man 
who  advises  to  commit  murder,  as  Leighton  did,  is 
hardly  less  criminal  than  the  man  who  follows  his 
advice.     In  times  of  peace  and  moderation,  such 
guilty  recommendations  have  no  effect,  because  the 
people  are  inclined  to  reason  calmly  on  the  subject, 
and,  therefore,  a  timely  interference  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  a  punishment  proportionable  to  the  evil 
which  is  likely  to  arise  from  the  state  of  the  public 
mind,  are  all  that  are  requisite.    Hence,  in  the  pre- 
sent day  the  fanatic  who  could  utter  such  sentiments 
would  not  meri't  the  severity  of  punishment  necessary 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  L,  because  enthusiasm  is 


520  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

restrained,  and  the  laws  can  be  put  in  speedy  opera- 
tion. But  the  man  who,  in  an  age  of  fermentation 
and  religious  extravagance,  instead  of  acting  the 
part  of  a  good  subject,  and  endeavouring  to  allay 
those  unhappy  commotions,  still  farther  excites  the 
wanderings  of  that  daring  spirit  which  runs  to  fear- 
ful extremes ;  who  reviles  the  Government  before 
he  has  proved  it  to  be  bad,  merely  because  he  and 
his  faction  think  it  so  ;  who  can  write  with  all  the 
fierceness  of  hate  and  individual  prejudice  against 
religious  institutions,  which,  their  divine  authority 
apart,  had  as  conscientious  supporters  as,  perad- 
venture,  they  might  have  had  opposers  ;  who  abuses 
his  sovereign,  and  holds  up  to  ridicule  the  members 
of  the  royal  House ;  who  condemns  the  royal  mea- 
sures because  his  party  opposes  them ;  who  can 
coolly  commend  a  deliberate  murder,  and  advise 
others  to  re-act  the  like  tragedy,  and  who  addresses 
himself  to  factious  men,  already  phrenzied  by  religi- 
ous fanaticism ;  who,  in  short,  a  Christian  minister, 
adventuring  into  the  arena  of  politics  without  any 
necessity,  inculcates,  under  a  puritanical  form,  the 
most  daring  treason  and  rebellion  ; — such  a  man  is 
deserving  of  no  slight  punishment,  as  being  a  pub- 
lic enemy,  an  incendiary  in  the  State,  whose  freedom 
is  dangerous,  and  of  whom  an  example  ought  to  be 
made.  I  do  not  vindicate  the  sentence,  much  less  do 
I  either  affirm  or  deny  that  Leighton's  punishment 
was  commensurate  with  the  offence;  but '  I^hold, 
that  if  he  was  insane,  his  insanity  under  any  circum- 
stances was  dangerous  ;  if  not,  who  will  hesitate  to 

7 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  521 

say  that  he  was  not  a  rebel,  and  consequently  a 
traitor  to  his  sovereign  ?  Every  man,  at  his  birth, 
gives  a  tacit  consent  to  the  established  government, 
nor  is  he  bound  to  seek  redress  even  for  grievances, 
except  at  the  instance  of  the  laws,  or  from  the 
public  representatives  of  the  nation,  if  these  act 
according  to  the  constitution.  But  he  who  takes 
upon  himself,  as  an  individual,  the  office  of  judge, 
and  advises,  through  the  medium  of  the  press,  to 
measures  of  violence,  is  entitled  to  the  same  cere- 
mony he  has  employed,  as  to  the  punishment  he 
deserves.  And  had  Leighton's  book  passed  unno- 
ticed, or  its  author  unpunished,  the  Government, 
and  not  he,  would  have  been  highly  culpable. 

It  may  be  doubted,  whether  the  sentence  was 
intended  to  be  executed  on  this  unfortunate  man, 
for,  though  it  was  given  towards  the  end  of  Trinity 
Term,  yet  five  months  were  suffered  to  elapse,  in 
order  to  give  some  opportunity  to  the  offender  for 
penitence  :  it  was  not  till  the  4th  of  November  that 
Leighton  was  actually  degraded.  Rushworth  in- 
deed asserts,  that  "it  required  some  time  in  the 
ecclesiastical  court,  in  order  to  the  degradation  of 
the  defendant ;"  but  this  formality  was  utterly  gra- 
tuitous, for  Leighton  was  not  ordained  by  the 
English  Church,  but  was  of  presbyterian  ordination, 
and,  therefore,  could  not  be  expected  to  derive  any 
favour  from  the  Church  of  which  he  was  not  a 
member.  This  proceeding,  however,  might  have 
been  instituted  in  order  to  give  him  the  benefit  of 
delay,  that  he  might  tender  his  submission,  while, 


522  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

at  the  same  time,  it  deprived  him  of  entertaining 
the  notion  that  the  sentence  could  not  be  immedi- 
ately enforced.  But  penitence  was  no  feature  of 
Leighton's  party.  On  Wednesday,  the  10th,  being 
a  court  day,  he  was  to  have  undergone  the  sen- 
tence, but  on  the  previous  night  he  effected,  by 
some  means  or  other,  with  the  contrivance  of  his 
friends,  his  escape.  A  proclamation  was  issued  to 
apprehend  him,  and  he  was  taken  in  Bedfordshire, 
within  two  weeks,  and  returned  to  the  Fleet.  On 
the  16th  of  November,  the  first  part  of  the  cruel 
sentence  was  carried  into  effect  before  the  New 
Palace  at  Westminster,  and  he  suffered  it  to  the 
full  extent,  with  the  exception  of  the  fine  and  the 
imprisonment  for  life,  being  released  after  an  im- 
prisonment of  ten  years  by  the  Long  Parliament, 
in  1640.  As  a  remuneration  for  his  sufferings,  he 
was  made  Keeper  of  Lambeth  Palace,  at  that  time 
converted  into  a  prison,  and  he  died  insane  in 
1644-5. 

Such  were  the  severe  sufferings  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Leighton,  a  man  of  considerable  learning  and 
abilities,  and  otherwise  worthy  of  the  University 
where  he  was  educated,  but  whose  "  untempered 
zeal,  as  his  countrymen  gave  it  out,"  says  Rush- 
worth,  "  prompted  him  to  that  mistake  for  which 
the  necessity  of  affairs  at  that  time  required  this 
severity  from  the  hand  of  the  magistrate,  more, 
perhaps,  than  the  crime  would  do  in  a  following 
juncture/'  This  is  a  remarkable  admission  from  an 
author  who  has  been  charged  with  being  partial  to 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  523 

the  Puritans.  Laud's  concern  in  the  punishment 
of  this  individual  now  claims  investigation,  more 
especially  as  this  is  one  of  the  cases  which  his  ene- 
mies adduce  to  establish  his  cruelty. 

And  here  it  is  lamentable  to  find  not  only  a 
clergyman  of  that  Church,  but  a  graduate  of  that 
University,  of  which  Laud  was  the  ornament,  and 
for  his  attachment  to  which  he  at  last  died  a  mar- 
tyr, uniting  with  the  sectarian  testimonies  to  cri- 
minate this  great  prelate.  Dr.  Charles  Symmons, 
of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  in  his  Life  of  Milton *, 
after  informing  us,  that  he  dislikes  "  the  principles 
and  the  temper  of  the  unfortunate  Laud,"  and  yet 
endeavouring  to  account  for  his  political  conduct 
from  the  "  effects  of  education,  or  from  the  natural 
and  of  course  venal  corruption  of  office  in  its 
influence  on  the  understanding  and  the  heart," 
and  for  his  "  bigotted  observance  of  ceremonies" 
from  "  the  example  of  some  of  his  most  eminent 
predecessors,"  and  which  at  any  other  period 
"  would  have  been  an  innocent  if  not  an  inoffensive 
display  of  littleness  ;"  thus,  in  the  same  style  of 
affected  liberality,  proceeds,  "  But  when  I  see  him 
confounding  the  cause  of  Christ  with  that  of  the 
prelate,  when  I  observe  him  persecuting  with  mer- 
ciless rigour  men  of  exemplary  lives,  united  with 
him  in  every  point  of  Christian  faith,  and  whose 
sole  crime  was  a  conscientious  opposition  to  the 

1  Life  of  John  Milton,  by  Charles  Symmons,  D.D.  of  Jesus 
College,  Oxford.  Second  edit.  p.  219—221. 


524  .  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

hierarchical  dignity,  and  a  regard  to  what  they 
deemed  to  be  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel ;  when  I 
contemplate  him  on  the  judgment-seat  *,  uncover- 
ing his  head,  and  thanking  God  on  the  passing  of 
a  cruel  sentence,  WHICH  HE  HIMSELF  HAD  DICTATED; 
when  I  see  him  afterwards  in  his  closet,  recording, 
with  calm  rancour  and  cold-blooded  exultation,  the 
execution  of  these  judicial  barbarities ;  when  I  be- 
hold him  insulting  the  age  of  the  mild  and  liberal 
Abbot,  and  spurning  him  from  his  throne  to  obtain 
premature  possession  of  the  metropolitan  power ; 
when  I  remark  him  ruining  with  vengeance,  a§ 
ungrateful  as  it  was  unrelenting,  the  first  patron 
of  his  fortunes,  Bishop  Williams,  whose  hand  had 
placed  the  mitre  on  his  head,  my  charity  must 
necessarily  falter,  and  I  cannot  immediately  decide 
that  he  stands  accountable  for  nothing  more  than 
erroneous  judgment.  By  that  prelate's  conduct 
his  party  was  covered  with  odium,  and  it  was 
detested  BY  THE  WISE,  who  foresaw  its  approaching 
ruin,  and  by  the  moderate,  who  were  disgusted 
with  its  tyranny." 

These  are  the  sentiments  of  Dr.  Symmons,  a 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  he  im- 
proves by  informing  us,  that  the  "  Puritans  might 

1  He  refers  in  the  note  to  Leighton's  case,  "  When  an  inhu- 
man sentence  was  passed  upon  Dr.  Leighton,  Laud  pulled  off 
his  cap  in  the  court,  and  thanked  God  for  it.  The  prelate 
noted  in  his  Diary  the  execution  of  these  butchering  sentences 
of  the  Star-Chamber  and  High  Council,  with  the  cool  malignity 
of  a  fiend." 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  525 

have  exulted  over  their  prostrate  persecutor,  in  nearly 
the  same  strains  of  triumph  which  Isaiah,  in  his 
twofold  character  of  prophet  and  of  poet,  so  nobly 
ascribes  to  the  exiles  of  Israel  on  the  fall  of  the 
king  of  Babylon.  '  How  hath  the  oppressor 
ceased !  He  who  smote  the  people  in  wrath  with  a 
continual  stroke ;  he  that  ruled  the  nations  in  anger 
is  persecuted,  and  none  hindereth,'  &c." 

Had  Laud  really  been  the  man  here  represented 
by  Dr.  Symmons,  had  he  really  pursued  a  course 
so  criminal  and  guilty,  I  know  no  language  which 
could  have  been  too  severe  to  express  his  infamy 
and  disgrace.  But,  if  it  be  true  that  this  is  not 
the  case,  if  it  can  be  proved  that  this  is  the  lan- 
guage of  enthusiasm  and  false  representation,  I 
greatly  fear  that  it  may  be  turned  against  his  ac- 
cuser, who  in  his  closet  has  betrayed  a  bigotry  and 
a  malignity  worse  than  what  he  charges  on  Laud, 
when  recording  the  "barbarities"  of  the  Star- 
Chamber.  It  is  exceedingly  unfair  to  assert  that 
the  notification  of  the  passing  events  of  the  day  in  a 
private  journal,  is  a  complete  proof  of  a  man's  bad- 
ness of  heart, — it  is  ridiculous  to  take  such  a  jour- 
nal, which  does  not  contain  a  single  comment  on 
the  times,  and  draw  inferences  from  it  on  a  man's 
talent  and  capacity,  as  Mr.  Hallam  has  done  in  his 
Constitutional  History  ;  and  it  denotes  a  species  of 
malignity  of  no  common  order,  to  charge  a  man 
with  having  been  personally  concerned  in  every 
thing  which  he  has  privately  recorded.  But  for 
such  a  man  as  Dr.  Symmons  to  charge  Laud  with 


526  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

weakness;  for  him,  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
England,  to  say  that  Laud's  party  was  deserted  by 
the  wise  ;  for  him  to  say  that  the  "  sole  crime"  of 
the  Puritans  was  a  "  conscientious  opposition  to 
the  hierarchy;"  for  him  to  aver,  that  because  a 
man  is  in  "  office"  he  must  necessarily  become 
"  venal  and  corrupt,"  appears  to  me  to  be  most  sin- 
gular and  unaccountable.  Was  that  weakness,  or 
littleness,  which  induced  this  truly  noble  prelate 
to  continue,  through  life,  the  unwearied  benefactor 
of  his  University,  the  patron  of  learning  and  reli- 
gion ?  And  every  time  that  this  writer  walked 
through  the  streets  of  that  venerable  seat  of  learn- 
ing, did  he  not  behold  the  monuments  of  Laud's 
munificence  when  St.  John's  College  met  his  eye, 
or  when  his  princely  benefactions  to  the  Library 
came  under  his  notice  ?  Had  other  writers,  and 
those  who  think  with  him  in  the  Church,  lived  in 
those  days  of  peril,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they 
would  have  been  among  those  wise  and  moderate, 
who  would  rather  become  time-servers  to  the  enemy, 
than  defend  to  the  utmost  our  venerable  ecclesias- 
tical establishment.  And  miserably  ignorant  must 
he  be  of  mankind,  and  a  gloomy  misanthrope  must 
he  be  in  principle,  who  can  be  so  absurd  as  to 
assert,  that  political  conduct  which  is  not  approved 
by  the  mob,  must  arise  either  from  the  effects  of 
education,  or  "  from  the  natural,  and,  of  course, 
venal  corruption  of  office  on  the  heart  and  under- 
standing." The  man  ought  to  blush  who  can  vin- 
dicate these  sentiments,  not  only  because  they  are 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  527 

false,  but  even  if  they  were  probable,  they  are  not 
established  ;  since  not  a  solitary  instance  is  on  re- 
cord to  prove  Laud  guilty  of  venality  and  corrup- 
tion, or  of  enriching  himself  at  the  expence  of  his 
country :  and  since,  to  make  out  a  case,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  substantiate  an  inclination  to  bribery  and 
subserviency,  with  which  he  has  never  been  charged 
even  by  his  most  virulent  enemies. 

It  is  dastardly  and  base  in  the  extreme  to  dis- 
turb the  ashes  of  the  illustrious  dead,  and  to  cover 
with  obloquy  the  memory  of  a  man  who,  by  his 
munificence  and  generosity,  atoned  for  a  thousand 
imperfections.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  in  all  this 
disgusting  affectation  of  liberality  there  is  greater 
bigotry  than  in  any  case  of  what  is  termed  high- 
church  intolerance, — the  same  dislike  to  principles 
characterizes  each,  with  this  difference,  that  the 
"  mild  and  liberal  low -churchman"  scowls  bit- 
terly on  those  who  oppose  him,  and  takes  every 
opportunity  to  calumniate  and  traduce,  under  the 
convenient  garb  of  affected  piety  and  zeal.  I  have 
already  proved  that  the  "  sole  crimes  of  the  Puritan 
faction,"  whom  this  writer  extols  at  the  expence  of 
the  Church,  whose  sacred  orders  he  had  received, 
were  something  more  than  "  a  conscientious  oppo- 
sition to  the  hierarchy," — that  Laud  at  no  time 
insulted  "  the  age  of  the  mild  and  liberal  Abbot, 
to  obtain  premature  possession  of  his  power," — and 
it  is  distinctly  denied  that  Williams  was  "the 
patron  of  Laud's  fortunes,"  or  aided  to  place  the 
mitre  on  his  brow,  except  to  preserve  for  himself 


528  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

the  Deanery  of  Westminster,  which  otherwise  Laud 
would  have  obtained.  The  reader  need  not  be  re- 
minded of  Abbot's  cruel  persecution  of  Laud,  of 
the  opposition  which  the  latter  invariably  expe- 
rienced— of  the  contemptuous  insults  which  the 
high-churchman  Laud,  received  from  the  "  mild 
and  liberal"  low-churchman  Abbot,  when  he  went 
to  procure  his  sanction  for  a  scheme  he  had  pro- 
posed to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor  clergy, 
and  which  Bishop  Williams  himself  had  pronounced 
to  be  the  "  best  office  done  for  the  Church  these 
seven  years" — so  "  mild  and  liberal,"  truly  that 
virtue  became  vice  in  any  act  in  which  Laud  was 
concerned  * :  nor  need  he  be  reminded  of  Williams' 
craftiness  in  sending  Laud  to  St.  David's,  that  his 
own  self-interest  might  be  gratified.  And  if  Dr. 
Symmons  chose  to  insert  in  a  note,  that  the  "  good 
bishop"  Williams  would  not  proceed  against  the 
Puritans,  because  he  knew  that  they  would  finally 
prevail,  which  is  a  lamentable  display  of  selfishness 
on  Williams'  part,  he  ought  not  to  have  neglected 
to  inform  his  readers,  seeing  that  he  has  referred 
to  the  very  passage  in  Rushworth,  which  states  that 
Williams  was  then  in  disgrace;  and  that  he  added 
as  his  reason,  that  "  he  had  no  hope  of  ano- 
ther  bishopric."—"  Whatever,"  ^says  the  learned 
Henry  Wharton, "  may  be  in  this  matter  against  Dr. 
Laud,  I  am  sure  no  art  or  colour  can  defend  that 
bitter  revenge  of  Archbishop  Williams,  which 

1  Diary,  p.  11. 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  529 

prompted  him  to  move,  earnestly,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  then  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  might 
be  sequestrated,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  his  in- 
ferior officers,  which  by  his  importunity  he  obtained, 
to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  Church,  and  no  small 
infamy  of  himself  V 

To  assert  that  Laud  persecuted  men  who  were 
united  with  him  in  every  point  of  Christian  faith, 
is,  to  say  the  least,  an  evidence  of  very  superficial 
knowledge,  as  no  opinions  can  be  more  opposite 
than  those  of  the  liberal  man  wfro  believes  that  sal- 
vation is  within  the  reach  of  every  human  being  to 
whom  it  is  preached,  if  he  choose  to  accept  it ;  and 
those  of  the  gloomy  Calvinist,  who  plunges  into 
the  secret  things  of  God,  presumptuously  brings 
forward  his  dogma  of  predestination,  and  sets  limits 
to  the  grace  of  God,  which  God  himself  never  set. 
In  this  instance,  Dr.  Symmons'  bigotry  and  little- 
ness are  farther  evident.  Nor  is  his  assertion,  that 
"  the  Prelate  noted  in  his  Diary  the  execution  of 
the  butchering  sentences  of  the  Star- Chamber  and 
High  Commission  with  the  cool  malignity  of  a 
fiend,"  in  any  respect  more  veracious.  From  this 
a  reader  would  infer,  that  there  are  many  such 
sentences  recorded,  whereas  Leighton's  is  the  soli- 
tary instance :  even  the  sentence  of  Burton,  Prynne, 
and  Bastwick,  in  1637,  in  many  respects  merited, 
which  the  frenzied  authors  of  the  History  of 

1  Wharton's  Preface  to  the  Diary,  p.  iii. 
VOL.  I.  Mm 


530  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

Dissenters  designate  "  a  most  infamous  tragedy," 
is  not  recorded  by  Laud,  though  he  delivered  a 
speech  on  the  occasion.  And  I  greatly  fear  that 
Dr.  Symmons'  bigotry  and  inveterate  prejudice 
precluded  him  from  perusing  the  Diary,  or  the 
account  of  any  of  those  transactions  in  which 
Laud  was  concerned.  Ignorance  is  indeed  in  some 
measure  an  excuse ;  but  if  the  above  sentiments 
were  written  after  such  a  perusal,  the  writer  is  un- 
pardonable. 

With  respect  to  Leighton's  case,  there  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence  that  Laud  was  present  at  the 
trial.  In  all  the  accounts  of  the  Star-Chamber 
which  I  have  been  able  to  examine,  I  do  not  find 
him  mentioned  in  this  case.  Archdeacon  Echard 
informs  us,  that  "  though  the  nature  of  the  crime, 
the  obstinacy  of  the  offender,  and  the  necessity  of 
suppressing  such  a  furious  spirit,  sufficiently  re- 
quired this  or  the  like  punishment,  yet  it  had  the 
natural  effect  of  moving  pity  in  the  people,  and  of 
raising  new  prejudices  against  the  court  and  go- 
vernment." But  if  this  sentence  had  been  of  Laud's 
dictation,  as  Symmons  asserts,  and  in  this  he  goes 
farther  than  Neal  or  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet ; 
had  he  actually  "  pulled  off  his  cap  in  the  court, 
and  thanked  God  for  it,"  is  it  at  all  probable  that 
these  facts  could  have  been  concealed  from  the 
people,  and  would  they  not  gladly  have  caught  at 
them,  to  renew  their  clamours  against  a  man  whom 
their  factious  leaders  hated,  and  whose  life  had  a 
few  days  before  been  threatened  ?  Yet  not  one  of 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  531 

the  writers  of  that  age,  in  opposition  to  Laud, 
Peirce  excepted,  asserts  that  in  this  he  had  any  con- 
cern, nor  has  he  ever  been  upbraided  for  the  fact, 
except  by  the  enthusiasts  of  modern  times ;  it  beino- 
thought  more  likely,  according  to  modern  libera- 
lity, that  a  prelate,  who  was  a  minister  of  state  in  a 
turbulent  age,  should  be  venal,  cruel,  and  corrupt, 
than  that  a  faction,  whose  intentions  were  blood, 
whose  religion  was  enthusiasm,  and  in  the  leaders 
hypocrisy,  should  be  in  the  slightest  degree  doubted 
as  to  their  "  conscientious  opposition  to  the  hier- 
archical dignity." 

Denying,  therefore,  that  there  is  any  evidence 
that  Laud  was  present  at  the  trial  of  Leighton, 
what  remains  as  to  the  fact  of  his  noting  Leighton's 
censure  in  his  Diary  ?  Does  that  amount  to  a  proof 
that  he  was  actually  present  ?  Assuredly  not.  He 
records  many  things  in  that  private  journal  in 
which  he  had  no  concern;  for  instance,  on  the  1st 
of  May,  1625,  he  has  recorded  the  marriage  of 
Charles  and  Henrietta  Maria  at  Paris,  which  excited 
the  clamour  of  the  Puritan  faction,  and  additional 
enmity  towards  the  unfortunate  Buckingham ;  and 
yet  Laud,  besides  having  no  concern  in  the  treaty, 
was  not  at  that  time  in  Paris,  but  in  London. 
Again,  he  has  recorded  the  dissolution  of  the  first 
Parliament  at  Oxford  for  not  complying  with  the 
King's  measures,  and  yet  he  was  confined  in  his 
lodgings  at  St.  John's  College.  The  mere  notifi- 
cation of  any  fact  in  the  Diary  is  no  proof  at  all 
that  he  was  present  at  its  occurrence 
M  m  2 


532  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

I  now  examine  the  authorities  on  which  this  calum- 
ny against  Laud  rests.  In  his  Diary,  he  has  simply 
noted  the  facts  thus :  "  November  4,  Thursday, 
Leighton  was  degraded  at  the  High  Commission. 
Nov.  9,  Tuesday,  that  night  Leighton  broke  out  of 
the  Fleet.  The  warden  says,  he  got  or  was  helped 
over  the  wall :  the  warden  professes  he  knew  it  not 
then  till  Wednesday  noon.  He  told  it  not  to  me  till 
Thursday  night.  He  was  taken  again  in  Bedford* 
shire,  and  brought  back  within  a  fortnight  to  the 
Fleet.  Nov.  26,  Friday,  part  of  his  sentence  was 
executed  upon  him  at  Westminster."  This  is  all 
which  is  said  on  the  subject ;  and  even  Prynne, 
who  has  altered  and  mutilated  the  Diary,  has 
really  had  the  honesty  not  to  make  any  alteration, 
though  in  numerous  other  instances  he  has  inserted 
or  omitted  passages  to  suit  his  convenience.  Keep- 
ing, therefore,  Laud's  own  authentic  record  in 
view,  let  us  see  how  it  has  been  distorted  by  certain 
writers.  Dr.  Charles  Symmons  has  already  "  con- 
templated Laud  on  the  judgment-seat,  uncovering 
his  head,  and  thanking  God  on  the  passing  of  a 
cruel  sentence,  which  he  himself  had  dictated," 
and  afterwards  this  same  Dr.  Symmons,  by  a 
wonderful  transition,  saw  him  "  in  his  closet  re- 
cording, with  calm  rancour  and  cold-blooded  ex- 
ultation, the  execution  of  these  judicial  barbarities ;" 
that  is,  he  imagined  this  dictated  sentence,  and 
thought  he  saw  the  prelate  in  his  closet ;  and  then 
he  actually  refers  to  the  above  passage  from  the 
Diary,  where  he  says  the  prelate  has  recorded  the 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  533 

sentence  "  with  the  cool  malignity  of  a  fiend ;" 
whereas,  if  we  could  not  ascertain  from  other 
sources  than  Laud's  Diary  what  that  sentence  was, 
Dr.  Symmons,  fertile  as  he  was  in  imagination, 
would  have  conjectured  a  considerable  time.  So 
much,  then,  for  the  authenticity  of  this  writer's  nar- 
rative, who  has  chosen  to  take  the  authority  of  the 
Puritans,  and  embellish  the  tale  accordingly.  Neal, 
the  great  oracle,  in  the  same  spirit,  after  relating 
the  falsehood  that  Laud  pulled  off  his  cap  and  gave 
thanks  to  God,  thus  proceeds  :  "  On  Friday,  Nov. 
6,  part  of  the  sentence  was  executed  upon  him, 
(says  Bishop  Laud,  in  his  Diary,}  after  this  man- 
ner :  1.  He  was  severely  whipt  before  he  was  put 
in  the  pillory.  2.  Being  set  in  the  pilory,  he  had  one 
of  his  ears  cut  off,"  &c.  But  not  a  single  word  of 
all  this  description  is  to  be  found  in  the  Diary.  A 
reference  is  made  by  Neal,  in  the  margin,  to 
Priestworth's  Collections,  and,  strange  to  say,  un- 
luckily for  Puritan  veracity,  not  a  single  word  of 
this  story  is  to  be  found  in  Priestworth.  He  refers, 
moreover,  to  Pierce's  History  of  the  Dissenters,  but 
here,  though  he  is  more  at  home,  he  is  again  un- 
fortunate. Pierce's  authority  was  the  regicide  Ed- 
mund Ludlow,  that  noted  republican  fanatic,  who 
voted  the  House  of  Peers  dangerous  ;  whom  Crom- 
well himself  was  forced  to  place  under  restraint, 
and  for  whose  apprehension  a  large  reward  was 
offered  at  the  Restoration.  It  is  set  forth  in  his 
Memoirs,  published  in  1698.  Let  us  now  take 
Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet's  account.  After  re- 


534  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

peating  the  Puritan  tale  of  Laud  pulling  off  his 
cap,  they  have  the  assurance  to  observe,  "  That 
we  may  justly  appreciate  his  Lordship's  devotion, 
he  has  recorded  in  his  Diary,  the  sentence  which 
raised  his  gratitude  to  heaven !  his  ears  were  cut 
off,"  (our  authors  proceed,  as  if  quoting  from  the 
Diary,)  "  his  nose  slit,  his  face  branded  with  burn- 
ing irons ;  he  was  tied  to  a  post,  and  whipped  with 
a  treble  cord,  of  which  every  lash  brought  away 
the  flesh.  He  was  kept  in  the  pillory  near  two 
hours,  in  frost  and  snow." 

It  will  scarcely  be  credited  that  the  language  of 
any  man  should  be  so  distorted  and  falsely  repre- 
sented by  writers  who  pledge  themselves  to  the  public 
that  they  relate  facts  as  they  find  them ;  but  still 
less  will  it  be  credited,  that  any  writer  could  have 
the  boldness  to  refer  to  a  document,  wherein  he  is 
conscious  that  no  such  language  is  to  be  found  as 
he  sets  forth.  Such,  however,  is  the  fact ;  so  that 
we  have  here  three  modern  writers,  the  oracles  of 
their  different  parties,  whose  want  of  candour  is 
most  palpable  and  glaring.  But  there  is  still 
better  evidence  that  Laud  had  no  connexion  with 
Leighton's  sentence,  and  that  it  was  not  of  his  dic- 
tation, from  one  very  important  circumstance.  At 
his  trial  there  was  no  charge  made  against  him  on 
this  subject,  and  yet  every  transaction,  even  the 
most  trivial,  of  his  whole  life,  was  on  that  occasion 
remembered,  and  magnified  into  a  crime.  Prynne, 
the  most  virulent  of  all  his  enemies,  who  was  the 
principal  conductor  of  the  prosecution,  who  had 


1630.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.     .  535 

himself,  with  Burton  and  Bartwick,  been  served  in 
the  same  manner,  entirely  omits  it ;  and  at  a  trial 
>  where  there  was  such  a  lack  of  facts  to  make  out  a 
case,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this,  a  material 
one,  would  have  been  forgotten,  more  especially  as 
the  revival  of  it  would  the  more  inflame  the  public 
mind.  Leighton  himself  was  alive  at  the  time  ;  he 
was  then  residing  in  Lambeth  Palace,  in  the  capa- 
city of  a  jailor,  that  venerable  edifice  having  been 
converted  into  a  prison  by  the  republicans,  and 
from  him  every  information  could  have  been  pro- 
cured. Prynne  was  not  likely  to  have  neglected  this 
circumstance,  as  he  saw  Leighton  daily,  and  the  affair 
was  too  recent  to  have  escaped  Leighton's  memory,  if 
the  sentence  inflicted  on  him  had  been  of  Laud's  own 
dictation.  It  is  asked,  then,  Why  was  it  not  produced 
as  evidence  against  Laud  ?  It  may  be  replied,  there 
were  sufficient  charges  without  it :  but  this  is  not  the 
fact;  and  it  is  therefore  asked  again,  Whether  the  re- 
pairing of  St.  Paul's  cathedral  and  the  consecration 
of  a  church,  or  the  depriving  Leighton  of  his  ears 
and  the  slitting  of  his  nose  for  writing  a  book  which 
the  Puritans  highly  commended,  was  more  worthy 
of  investigation  on  their  part.  Yet  the  two  former 
were  actually  imputed  to  him  as  crimes  *,  while  the 
latter,  which  so  much  favoured  and  gratified  the 
Puritan  faction,  was  forgotten.  And  Prynne, 
Laud's  arch-enemy,  who  was  conspicuous  during 
that  age  of  turbulence  for  his  opposition,  who  ran- 

1  Hist,  of  Troubles  and  Trials,  p.  339,  340.    Heylin,  p.  204. 
208.    Riishworth,  vol.  ii.  p.  76,  77.  410.  462.  719. 


536  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630. 

sacked  all  his  papers,  mutilated,  destroyed,   and 
inserted  what  he  pleased ;  who  continually  abused 
him  for  his  alleged  cruelty,  tyranny,  and  oppression, 
has  not  in  any  of  his  productions,  neither  in  the 
"  Hidden  Works  of  Darkness  brought  to  Light," 
"  Canterburie's  Doom,"  nor  any  of  his  minor  effu- 
sions, made  a  single  reference  to  the  affair.     When 
Prynne  was  punished,  though  Laud  on  that  occa- 
sion acted  in  no  other  capacity  than  as  a  member 
of  the  Court,  he  was  unjustly  charged  with  the 
whole  procedure 1 ;   yet  here  is  a  case  exactly  paral- 
lel, in  which  Laud   is  not  mentioned  at  all.     It 
is  evident,  therefore,  from  the  above  facts,  viz.  that 
no  mention  is  made  of  Laud's  presence  at  this  trial ; 
that  the  writers  who  have  testified  against  Laud, 
have  been  proved  to  be  guilty  of  distorting  and  mis- 
representing language,  and  of  making  false  asser- 
tions ;  that,  though  Leighton's  sentence  excited  the 
public   commiseration,  nothing  was    said   against 
Laud  at  the  time,  who  was  then  so  unpopular  as 
to  have  had  his  life  threatened,  and  the  rabble  were 
by  no  means  ignorant ,  of  the  Star-Chamber  pro- 
ceedings;    that    though    Leighton    himself    was 
alive   at  the  time  of  Laud's   trial,   and   survived 
him,  and  though  he  was  then  in  Laud's  own  palace, 
he  neither  charged  the  prelate  with  dictating  the 
sentence,  nor  was  applied  to  in  proof ;  that  it  was 
entirely  omitted  at  the  trial,  while  at  the  same  time 
his  enemies  were  so  miserably  pushed  for  articles  of 


1  Prynne's  New  Discovery  of  the  Prelates'  Tyranny,    4to. 
1641. 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  537 

impeachment,  that  one  of  his  alleged  crimes  was 
that  of  repairing  St.  Paul's,  and  another,  and,  in- 
deed, the  great  one,  that  of  being  what  they  termed 
an  Arminian ;  and  that  Prynne,  his  chief  opposer, 
who  had  himself  undergone  the  same  sentence,  and 
who  otherwise  raked  together  every  thing  which  he 
could  against  the  prelate,  takes  not  the  slightest  no- 
tice of  it ; — it  is  evident,  I  maintain,  and  undeniable, 
that  Laud  has  been  most  unjustly  reproached  for 
this  affair,  with  which  he  had  not  the  least  concern, 
either  as  a  judge,  or  as  a  member  of  the  S tar- 
Chamber. 

The  prolixity  of  these  remarks,  and  the  interrup- 
tion of  the  history,  will  be  pardoned,  since  it  is  my 
duty  to  lay  the  actions  of  this  calumniated  prelate 
fairly  and  impartially  before  the  reader.  Having, 
therefore,  proved  that  Laud  has  been  unjustly  re- 
proached for  this  transaction,  I  proceed  to  follow 
him  in  his  other  important  concerns.  On  Sunday, 
the  16th  of  January  1630-1,  we  find  him  conse- 
crating the  church  of  St.  Catharine  Cree,  London, 
and  on  the  Sunday  after,  the  church  of  St.  Giles-in- 
the-Fields,  with  all  the  solemnity  which  that  solemn 
and  ancient  service  requires.  This  important  duty, 
for  which  so  many  analogies  are  found  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish,  and  so  many  precedents  in  that 
of  the  primitive  Christian  Church,  of  publicly  con- 
secrating and  setting  apart  edifices  for  divine  wor- 
ship, was  regarded  by  Laud  with  pious  care,  and 
we  find  him,  in  various  parts  of  his  life,  sedulously 
watchful  and  minute  in  its  observance.  In  opposi- 


538  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1. 

tion  to  the  notions  of  the  sectarian,  whose  conven- 
ticle was  devoted  one  day  to  the  worship  of  his 
Maker,  according  to  the  manner  in  which  he 
thought  proper  to  conduct  it,  and  the  next  day 
might  be  turned  into  a  place  for  the  exhibition  of 
worldly  and  even  sensual  gratifications — at  least 
adapted  for  any  purposes  whether  religious  or 
worldly,  it  was  the  conviction  of  Laud,  as  it  had 
been  of  the  Church  in  all  ages,  that  in  buildings 
which  were  reared  for  the  specific  design  of  becom- 
ing Christian  temples,  a  certain  form  should  be 
observed  to  mark  the  object  of  their  erection,  and 
to  distinguish  between  sacred  and  profane  founda- 
tions. He  did  not  require  to  be  told  that  the  pre- 
sence of  God  was  not  confined  to  temples  made  with 
hands ;  but  man,  while  in  this  state  of  imperfection, 
subject  to  human  passions  and  infirmities,  must  be 
impressed  by  outward  objects,  the  source  whence 
he  derives  his  mental  knowledge.  Religion,  indeed, 
is  addressed  neither  to  the  senses  nor  to  the  imagi- 
nation, but  to  the  heart,  and  man  is  required  to 
exercise  his  reasoning  faculties  upon  it,  to  under- 
stand its  doctrines,  so  far  as  his  nature  is  capable, 
and  to  practise  its  sacred  injunctions,  Neverthe- 
less, an  affected  spirituality  is  by  no  means  a  crite- 
rion of  purity,  nor  a  total  divestment  of  ceremonies 
a  safeguard  against  the  introduction  of  error.  The 
man  who  is  an  advocate  for  rude  simplicity,  and  for 
a  form  which  he  calls  spiritual,  fit  only  for  philoso- 
phers, and  who  revels  at  will  amid  the  wild  and 
visionary  speculations  of  a  heated  imagination,  is 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  539 

liable  to  fanaticism,  and  to  opinions  as  dangerous  as 
the  notions  of  the  Popish  devotee,  who  reckons  the 
ceremonial  of  the  mass  of  no  avail,  if  his  priest 
commit  the  slightest  blunder  in  its  celebration,  and 
who  conceives  that  no  prayers  are  acceptable  to 
Heaven,  unless  he  prefaces  them  in  his  devotions  by 
the  sign  of  the  cross.  Both  are  evidently  mistaken, 
and  both  have  totally  misconceived  the  nature  of 
man  in  this  state  of  imperfection.  Ceremonies,  so 
far  as  their  mere  mechanism  or  nature  is  concerned, 
are  not  necessary  to  salvation,  nor  is  an  excess  of 
ceremonies  at  all  desirable,  as  thereby  religion  be- 
comes burdensome  in  its  observances ;  but  they 
may  be,  and  they  are,  the  means  of  impressing  the 
mind  with  devotional  feelings,  and  of  fostering  that 
regard  for  religion,  which,  even  when  grounded  on 
superstition,  is  a  thousand  times  more  beneficial 
than  the  violent  extravagancies  of  fanaticism,  too 
often  mistaken  for  genuine  religion  by  the  advocates 
and  the  devotees  of  spirituality. 

I  confess  that  the  investigation  of  this  part  of 
Bishop  Laud's  life  is  a  task  of  extreme  difficulty 
and  delicacy,  both  from  the  odium  which  he  has 
received  from  his  attention  to  forms  and  observances, 
and  from  the  circumstances  in  which  any  individual 
is  placed  who  reasons  on  them  in  an  age  like  the 
present.  But  in  maintaining  that  the  Papists  and 
the  Puritans  were  alike  in  their  notions  of  cere- 
monies, I  conceive  that  I  assert  a  remarkable  fact, 
however  paradoxical  it  may  appear  ;  for  if  the  Pa- 
pists made  a  merit  of  their  ceremonies,  the  Puritans 
7 


540  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1. 

also  made  a  merit,  as  they  conceived,  of  observing 
none.  Here,  then,  was  a  collision  of  two  extremes  ; 
the  one  devotee  imagining  that  he  made  himself 
acceptable  to  Heaven  by  many  and  varied  acts  of 
outward  devotion,  and  the  other  that  he  did  so  by 
rejecting  them  altogether,  and  clamouring  for  what 
he  called  the  worship  of  the  spirit.  The  error  of 
the  Papists  consisted,  as  it  does  yet,  in  believing  too 
much,  in  other  words,  taking  too  much  for  granted, 
without  due  investigation,  on  the  authority  of  others ; 
the  error  of  the  Puritans  in  believing  too  little, 
that  IF^  in  rejecting  altogether  every  human  autho- 
rity, and  trusting  solely  to  the  vapourings  of  their 
enthusiastic  minds.  If  the  Papist  groaned  from 
bodily  mortifications,  and  placed  his  salvation  on 
the  dicta  of  his  priest;  the  Puritan  groaned  in 
spirit,  and  reckoned  the  value  of  his  services,  not 
in  the  substance,  but  in  the  length  of  time  during 
which  he  was  occupied.  His  spiritual  mortifications, 
therefore,  by  listening  for  hours  to  the  declamations 
of  his  teacher,  were  as  severe  as  the  bodily  penances 
of  the  Papist,  and  both  placed  merit  on  their 
performances,  with  this  difference — that  the  Papist 
performed  an  act  of  the  body,  the  Puritan  of  the 
mind.  If  the  one  was  superstitious,  the  other  was 
unquestionably  enthusiastic  ;  and  it  is  my  conviction 
that,  supposing  for  a  moment  there  was  any  merit 
in  these  observances,  the  Puritan  would  gain  heaven 
more  easily  than  the  Papist ;  for  nothing  is  more 
evident  than  that  man  is  more  naturally  inclined  to 
gratify  his  prejudices,  and  to  land  at  last  in  the 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  541 

marsh  of  fanaticism,  than  to  subject  himself  to 
bodily  mortifications,  which  are  frequently  severe, 
and  in  some  cases  intolerable. 

To  maintain  that  ceremonial  observances  in  the 
Christian  Church  are  matters  of  expediency,  as  some 
writers  have  done,  appears  to  me  a  species  of  sophis- 
try which  ought  to  be  now  laid  aside :  for  though, 
in  certain  cases,  the  argument  may  generally  hold, 
yet  it  is  open  to  serious  objections,  and,  therefore,  I 
maintain,  that  ceremonies  without  the  authority  of 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  as  sanctioned  by  the  pri- 
mitive Christians,  though  sometimes  they  may  be 
expedient,  are  of  little  general  utility.  Nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that  the  primitive  Fathers  degraded  themselves 
so  far  as  to  submit  to  the  heathen  prejudices  of  the 
vulgar  in  their  age,  and  thus  blend  together  the 
objects  of  faith  and  sense,  the  rites  of  Christianity 
with  those  of  Paganism,  that  they  might  allure 
converts  to  the  Christian  Church.  The  ceremo- 
nies which  the  Church  of  England  enjoins  are  those 
of  the  apostolic  age,  and  I  believe,  for  my  own  part, 
were  practised  by  the  Apostles  themselves,  who  had 
more  correct  ideas  on  form  and  order  than  the 
self-styled  evangelists  of  modern  times.  The  ac- 
commodation of  religious  worship  to  national  cus- 
toms, for  the  purpose  of  extending  Christianity,  is 
a  feature  of  Popery,  which  has  thereby  the  most 
convenient  ritual  and  policy  of  any  religious  com- 
munion, and  Gregory  afforded  a  specimen  of  this 
in  his  remarkable  instructions  concerning  the  con- 
version of  the  English.  In  like  manner,  the  Romish 


542  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1. 

missionaries  act  at  the  present  day,  who,  for  their 
part,  would  not  scruple  to  blend  the  ritual  of  Con- 
fucius or  Brahma  with  that  of  Christ,  with  a 
convenient  share  of  the  religion,  too,  if  by  that 
means  they  could  extend  the  nominal  jurisdiction 
of  his  Holiness.  Nevertheless  I  agree  with  Mr. 
Hume  on  this  subject,  (whose  sincerity  it  is  not  my 
province  here  to  discuss,)  even  in  the  matter  of  ex- 
pediency. ((  Whatever  ridicule,  to  a  philosophical 
mind,  may  be  thrown  on  pious  ceremonies,  it  must 
be  confessed,  that  during  a  very  religious  age,  no 
institutions  can  be  more  advantageous  to  the  rude 
multitude,  and  tend  more  to  mollify  that  fierce 
and  gloomy  spirit  of  devotion  to  which  they  are 
subjected.  Even  the  English  Church,  though  it  had 
retained  a  share  of  Popish  ceremonies,  may  justly 
be  thought  too  naked  and  unadorned,  and  still  to 
approach  too  near  the  abstract  and  spiritual  reli- 
gion of  the  Puritans.  Laud  and  his  associates,  by 
reviving  a  few  primitive  institutions  of  this  nature, 
corrected  the  error  of  the  first  reformers,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  affrightened  and  astonished  mind 
some  sensible  exterior  observances,  which  might 
occupy  it  during  its  religious  exercises,  and  abate 
the  violence  of  its  disappointed  efforts  1." 

An  opportunity  will  again  occur  of  fully  discuss- 
ing this  very  important  subject.  In  Laud's  scru- 
pulous attention  to  this  part  of  religious  duty,  for 
which  his  mistaken  enemies  honoured  him  with  the 

1  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  vii.  8vo.  London,  1788, 
p.  41,  42. 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  513 

title  of  Master  of  Ceremonies,  he  was  actuated  by 
the  best  motives,  by  the  example  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  by  the  analogy  of  the  Jewish  Church, 
by  his  respect  for  antiquity,  and  his  anxiety  at 
once  to  separate  the  Church  from  the  extravagan- 
ces of  Puritan  enthusiasm.  The  consecration  of 
St.  Catherine  Cree  was  imputed  to  him  as  one  of 
his  crimes,  but  it  must  be  observed  that  he  vindi- 
cated himself  from  the  aspersions  of  his  calumnia- 
tors. The  account  of  it,  as  given  by  Rushworth, 
Hume,  and  Neal l,  was  denied  by  the  Bishop,  and 
with  every  appearance  of  truth.  It  is  reported  by 
these  writers,  that  Laud  went  both  to  St.  Cathe- 
rine Cree  and  St.  Giles'  with  a  great  company,  and 
proceeding  to  the  west  door,  he  exclaimed,  "  Open, 
ye  everlasting  doors,"  &c.  :  and  having  entered,  he 
knelt  down,  and  exclaimed,  "  This  place  is  holy, 
the  ground  is  holy,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  I  pronounce  it  holy."  But,  as 
Laud  himself  remarked,  there  is  a  derivative  and 
a  relative  holiness  both  in  places  and  in  vessels, 
nor  ought  either  of  these  set  apart  for  divine  wor- 
ship to  be  adapted  at  will  to  common  purposes. 
No  notion  is  more  absurd  than  that  of  certain  reli- 
gionists, who  conceive  that  a  building  is  no  longer 
a  church,  than  when  the  congregation  is  assembled 
within  its  walls.  What  is  this  but  asserting,  that 
persons  do  actually  communicate  virtue  to  the 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.  p.  71—74.     Hume,  ut  sup.  vol.  vi. 
Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  219—222. 


544  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1. 

sanctuary  ?  and  if  so,  it  must  be  followed  up  according 
to  their  various  characters :  for  if  there  be  a  congre- 
gation of  avowed  sinners,  then  there  is  no  church  ; 
and  if  they  be  saints,  they,  it  would  appear,  carry  this 
holiness  with  them  when  they  depart.  But  conse- 
cration is  a  solemn  and  a  primitive  service  ;  it  tends 
to  promote  the  spirit  of  reverence  and  devotion  ;  it 
teaches  us  to  look  with  respect  on  the  Christian  tem- 
ple, because  we  know  that  the  Almighty  has  in  a  spe- 
cial manner  declared  that  he  will  be  present  in  the 
public  assemblies  of  his  people  :  our  Saviour  himself 
set  us  an  example,  by  honouring  a  Feast  of  Dedica- 
tion with  his  presence  *,  which  was  undeniably  an 
anniversary  of  the  Dedication  celebrated  by  Ezra 2 : 
and  that  religious  philosophy  is  worthy  of  contempt 
which  can  talk  with  disdain  of  those  duties  prac- 
tised by  the  Church  in  all  ages.  More  especially 
was  a  due  regard  to  the  edifices  of  devotion  neces- 
sary in  that  age,  when  the  negligence  of  Abbot 
had  permitted  them  either  to  fall  into  decay,  or  to 
be  prostituted  to  every  ignoble  purpose,  to  become, 
in  fact,  in  too  many  instances,  mere  conventicles, 
where  the  prejudices  were  gratified  at  the  expence 
of  religious  instruction.  Religion  is  a  serious  con- 
cern, and  he  who  spurns  at  the  edifices  erected  for 
the  celebration  of  its  services  is  little  under  its 
genuine  influence.  On  the  same  principle,  those 
enthusiasts  who  attend  its  public  ministrations, 
hunting  after  the  novelties  of  human  eloquence, 

1  St.  John  x.  22.  2  Ezra  vi.  16,  17. 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  545 

and  forgetting  the  specific  purposes  of  all  religious 
homage,  praise,  prayer,  and  the  reading  of  the 
canon  of  inspiration,  give  sufficient  indications  that 
their  religious  philosophy  is  the  result  of  obstinacy, 
and  of  a  fondness  for  their  own  peculiar  forms  and 
fancies,  which  places  them  on  the  same  level  with 
the  Romish  devotee. 

With  these  transactions  ended  the  year  1630, 
as  connected  with  Laud  :  and  it  is  now  necessary 
to  notice  the  magnificent  projects  which  our  great 
prelate  formed  this  year,  and  which  sufficiently  de- 
note his  munificent  and  generous  spirit.  These 
were  found  written,  with  his  own  hand,  on  the  last 
leaf  of  his  Diary,  "  at  what  time,  or  what  year," 
says  the  learned  Wharton,  "is  uncertain;"  but 
Rushworth  places  them  in  1630,  which  appears  to 
be  the  case,  from  his  noticing  the  impropriations 
and  the  repairs  of  St.  Paul's,  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged the  next  year.  No  less  than  twenty-three 
are  enumerated  by  him,  which  are  the  following. 

The  first  is  blotted  out,  and,  therefore,  it  is  im- 
possible to  conjecture  its  nature.  "  2.  To  build  at 
St.  John's,  in  Oxford,  where  I  was  educated,  for 
the  good  and  safety  of  that  College.  3.  To  over- 
throw the  feoffments,  dangerous  both  to  Church  and 
State,  going  under  the  specious  pretence  of  buying 
in  impropriations.  4.  To  procure  from  King 
Charles  all  the  impropriations  yet  remaining  in  the 
crown,  within  the  realm  of  Ireland,  for  that  poor 
Church.  5.  To  set  upon  the  repair  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  London.  6.  To  collect  and  perfect  the 

VOL.  i.  N  n 


546  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1. 

broken,  crossing,  and  imperfect  statutes  of  the 
University  of  Oxford,  which  had  lain  in  a  confused 
heap  some  hundreds  of  years.  7.  Blotted  out.  8. 
To  settle  the  statutes  of  all  the  Cathedral  Churches 
of  the  new  foundations,  whose  statutes  are  imper- 
fect, and  not  confirmed.  9.  To  annex  for  ever  some 
settled  commendams,  and  those,  if  it  may  be,  sine 
cur  a,  to  all  the  small  bishoprics.  10.  To  find  a  way 
to  increase  the  stipends  of  poor  vicars.  11.  To 
see  the  tithes  of  London  settled  between  the  clergy 
and  the  city.  12.  To  set  up  a  Greek  press  in  Lon- 
don and  Oxford,  for  printing  of  the  Library  MSS. 
and  to  get  both  letters  (types)  and  matrices.  13. 
To  settle  80/.  a  year,  for  ever,  out  of  Dr.  Fryar's 
lands,  (after  the  death  of  Dr.  John  Fryar,  the  son,) 
upon  the  brick  of  St.  Paul's,  to  the  repair,  till  that 
be  finished,  and  to  keep  it  in  good  condition  after- 
wards. 14.  To  procure  a  large  charter  for  Oxford, 
to  confirm  the  ancient  privileges,  and  obtain  new 
for  them,  as  large  as  those  of  Cambridge,  which 
they  had  gotten  since  Henry  VIII.'s  reign,  and 
which  Oxford  had  not.  15.  To  open  the  great 
square  at  Oxford,  between  St.  Mary's  and  the 
schools,  Brazen-nose  and  All  Souls.  16.  To  settle 
an  Hospital  of  land  in  Reading,  of  100/.  per  an- 
num, in  a  new  way.  17.  To  erect  an  Arabic  lec- 
ture at  Oxford,  at  least  for  my  life-time,  my  estate 
not  being  sufficent  for  any  longer  period.  18.  To 
settle  the  impropriation  of  the  vicarage  of  Cudsden 
on  the  Bishop  of  Oxford.  19.  To  get  a  book  in 
vellum  fairly  written,  containing  the  Records  which 


1630-1.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  547 

are  in  the  Tower,  and  which  concern  the  clergy. 
20.  To  procure  a  new  charter  for  the  College  of 
Dublin  from  his  Majesty,  and  a  body  of  new  sta- 
tutes made,  to  rectify  that  government,  and  a  mort- 
main. 21.  A  charter  for  the  town  of  Reading. 
22.  If  I  live  to  see  the  repair  of  St.  Paul's  near  an 
end,  to  move  his  Majesty  for  the  like  grant  from 
the  High  Commission,  for  the  bringing  in  of  impro- 
priations,  and  then  I  hope  to  buy  two  in  a  year  at 
least.  23.  To  procure  for  St.  John's  College,  in 
Oxford,  the  perpetual  inheritance  and  patronage  of 
St.  Lawrence,  Reading  V 

Such  were  the  "  things  which,"  says  Laud,  "  I 
have  projected  to  do,  if  God  bless  me  in  them ;" 
and  it  will  be  subsequently  shewn  how  far  he  was 
able  to  carry  them  into  effect.  They  require  no 
comment,  and  the  very  mention  of  those  magni- 
ficent plans  is  conclusive  as  to  his  noble  integrity, 
his  care  for  religion,  learning,  and  piety.  Much  as 
he  regarded  his  own  University,  his  benefactions 
were  not  exclusive,  and  Ireland  equally  experienced 
his  generous  care.  His  mind  disdained  every  ap- 
pearance of  self-aggrandizement,  and  he  was  re- 
solved to  spend  his  episcopal  revenues  in  benefiting 
his  country.  The  monuments  of  his  munificence 
still  remain,  proofs  of  his  unwearied  industry,  acti- 
vity, and  perseverance ;  but  what  other  things  his 
enlarged  mind  might  have  projected,  it  is  impos- 

1  Diary,  p.  68,  69.     Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  74, 
75. 

N  n  2 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1630-1 

sible  to  say  :  it  is  enough  to  know  the  melancholy 
fact,  that,  to  adopt  the  expression  of  the  Church 
Historian,  "  one  stroke  of  the  cruel  axe  spoiled  the 
work  of  many  hammers." 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  549 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1631—1633. 

The  Impropriations — Conduct  of  Laud — Dr.  Peter  Heylin's 
Sermon  at  St.  Mary's,  Oxford— Laud  restrains  the  Im- 
propriations— His  proceedings  at  Oxford — He  enlarges 
St.  John's  College — Promotes  the  repairs  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral — Clamours  of  the  Puritans — His  government  of 
the  University — Enforces  the  statutes — Remarkable  Enthu- 
siasm of  a  graduate — Combination  of  the  Puritan  faction  at 
Oxford — Cognizance  of  three  of  the  leaders — Their  punish- 
ments— Impartiality  of  Laud — New  revival  of  the  Predesti- 
narian  Controversy — Archbishop  Usher  of  Ireland — Calum- 
nies against  Laud — Lord  Wentworth  proceeds  to  Ireland — 
Ecclesiastical  affairs — Prosecution  of  the  King' s  printers — 
Henry  Sherjield — William  Prynne — Notice  of  him  and  his 
writings — His  seditious  libels — His  imprisonment — Proceed- 
ings relative  to  chaplains  and  foreign  service — The  English 
congregation  at  Hamburgh — Salutary  regulations  by  Laud — 
General  remarks. 

IN  pursuance  of  the  designs  which  Laud  had  formed 
for  the  advancement  of  learning  and  religion,  we 
find  him  at  this  period  engaged  in  the  affair  of  the 
impropriations  which  had  heen  purchased  by  that 
contrivance  of  the  Puritan  faction,  the  feoffments, 
for  the  support  of  lectureships.  The  feoffments  for 
purchasing  these  impropriations  had  been  projected 
in  1626,  by  one  of  the  Puritan  leaders,  Dr.  John 
Preston,  of  King's  and  Queen's  Colleges,  Cambridge, 
who  managed  their  affairs.  It  was  the  design  of 


550  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

the  faction  to  establish  lectureships  in  the  market 
towns,  where  there  was  a  greater  intercourse  of 
people  than  in  the  country  parts,  and  where  they 
were  always  certain  of  adherents  from  among  the 
idle  and  the  wavering ;  and  thus,  by  retaining  the 
patronage  in  their  own  hands,  they  would  be  ena- 
bled to  gratify  their  taste  by  what  they  called  a 
preaching  ministry.  For  this  purpose  they  had 
erected  themselves  into  a  body  corporate,  though 
they  had  no  sanction  from  the  Government,  con- 
sisting of  twelve  persons,  viz.  four  ministers,  four 
lawyers,  and  four  citizens,  who  with  their  own  and 
the  money  of  others,  were  to  purchase  all  the  im- 
propriations  in  the  hands  of  laymen l. 

The  design  being  formed  under  the  appearance 
of  piety  and  zeal  for  religion,  succeeded  to  the  ut- 
most extent.  "  Here,"  says  Fuller,  "  were  four 
divines  to  persuade  men's  consciences,  four  lawyers 
to  draw  all  conveyances,  and  four  citizens,  who 
commanded  rich  coffers,  wanting  nothing  save  some 
swordsmen  to  defend  all  the  rest."  This  specious 
pretence  of  religious  zeal  operated  on  the  people, 
and  the  self-elected  corporation  received  immense 
sums  from  various  parts  of  the  country  to  support 
their  seemingly  pious  intentions.  Indeed,  this  con- 
trivance of  the  Puritan  faction  was  so  dexterous  and 
successful,  that  it  was  reported,  that  within  half  a 
century,  they  would  not  be  able  to  find  any  more 
purchases  of  impropriations. 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  136. 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  551 

But  in  the  act  sermon,  preached  in  St.  Mary's, 
Oxford,  1630, they  were  attacked  by  Dr.  Heylin,then 
Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  who  having  been  at  a 
town  in  Gloucestershire,  where  one  of  the  lecture- 
ships had  been  established,  had  witnessed  the  crafti- 
ness and  iniquity  of  the  whole  affair  l.  He  preached 
from  Matt.  xiii.  25.  "  But  while  men  slept,  the 
enemy  came,  and  sowed  tares  among  the  wheat, 
and  went  his  way ;"  and  towards  the  end  of  his  ser- 
mon he  enlarged  with  great  severity  on  the  charac- 
ters and  designs  of  the  feoffment  corporation. 
Great  was  the  indignation  of  the  Puritan  faction, 
who  meditated  revenge  towards  this  enemy ;  and 
the  clamour  was  so  violent,  that  Heylin  was  com- 
pelled at  last  to  send  his  discourse  to  Laud,  and 
signify  his  willingness  to  defend  his  positions.  Laud 
had  already  reported  to  the  King  on  the  subject, 
and  his  Majesty  had  declared  that  "  he  would  not 
have  the  clergy  fettered  with  lay  dependencies 2 ;" 
and  viewing  the  whole  project  as  a  design  to  un- 
dermine the  Church  and  oppose  the  State,  he  caused 


1  Heylin,  p.  198,  199.     Wood's  Athen.  Oxon.  by  Bliss,  vol. 
iii.  col.  554.     Prynne's  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  386.     By  the 
latter  writer,  Heylin  is  termed  Laud's  great  minion,  and  he  says 
that  Laud  "  set  on  this  prosecution  with  more  edge,  by  suborn- 
ing his  flattering  creatures  to  declaim  against  these  feoffees, 
and  their  design  in  the  pulpit,  both  at  Court  and  elsewhere." 
But  Prynne  was  also  Heylin's  violent  enemy,   and  afterwards 
brought  him  into  trouble  for  some  remarks  which  he  made  on 
one  of  Prynne's  Works.     (Wood,  ut  sup.  col.  556.) 

2  Diary,  p.  31. 


552  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

an  information  to  be  laid  against  the  self- elected 
corporation  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  at  the  in- 
stance of  Noy,  the  attorney-general,  because  it  was 
an  illegal  association  :  and  the  result  was,  that  in 
1632,  when  this  confederacy  was  broken  up,  only 
thirteen  impropriations  had  been  purchased  for 
five  or  six  thousand  pounds,  and  these  were  confis- 
cated to  the  King's  use. 

The  impropriations  were  generally  bought  at 
twelve  years'  purchase,  and  had  the  feoffees  been 
actuated  by  other  motives  than  the  advancement  of 
their  faction,  of  which  that  renowned  Puritan  Dr. 
Preston  was  a  leader,  the  feoffment,  as  a  charity, 
would  not  have  been  unworthy,  perhaps,  of  support. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  the  design  was  too  evident  to 
be  concealed.  There  were  then  in  England  9284 
benefices,  and  of  these  3845  were  either  attached  to 
colleges  and  cathedrals,  or  in  the  hands  of  laymen. 
The  feoffees,  in  endeavouring  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  lay  impropriations,  merely  made  a  transfer- 
rence  of  the  patronage,  from  one  individual,  perhaps, 
into  their  own  hands.  They  had  not  the  slightest 
intention  to  increase  the  revenues  of  the  poorer 
livings  to  which  the  impropriations  belonged,  but 
setting  up  their  lectureships  in  towns  to  which  fac- 
tious individuals  chiefly  resorted,  they  attached 
salaries  to  these  lectureships,  in  prejudice  to  the 
poorer  clergy.  The  religion  of  the  Puritans  con- 
sisted in  preaching,  and  the  furtherance  of  this  was 
their  grand  object.  It  was  their  intention  to  make 
these  lectureships  serve  as  schools  for  the  training 


1631.]      .  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  553 

of  their  novices,  to  strengthen  the  sectarian  interest, 
and  to  prepare  the  way  silently  but  surely  for  the 
introduction  of  the  Presbyterianism  of  Geneva. 
The  feoffees  were  all  Nonconformists,  men  well 
known  for  their  disaffection  to  the  Government ; 
and  Puritans  were  only  presented  to  the  lecture- 
ships, who  had  been  interdicted  by  the  Bishop  or 
the  Commission  ;  and  who,  of  course,  would  do  their 
utmost  to  foster  the  prejudice  against  the  regular 
clergy.  The  lecturers,  moreover,  were  entirely 
dependent  on  this  self-elected  corporation,  being 
annually  liable  to  removal,  if  they  offended  their 
patrons.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  cause 
was  extremely  liable  to  suspicion ;  the  regular 
clergy  were  deprived  of  their  incomes  ;  their  situa- 
tions would  have  been  miserable  from  the  intrusion 
of  factious  zealots,  stimulated  by  their  extravagant 
enthusiasm  :  and,  as  these  preachers  were  entirely 
dependent  on  the  humours  of  their  patrons,  who 
served  their  own  purpose  by  not  fixing  them  for 
life,  it  was  natural  that  they  should  preach  as  their 
patrons  pleased.  The  worst  consequences  were 
most  likely  to  ensue  from  these  measures :  in 
market  towns  the  parliamentary  elections  would  be 
swayed  by  those  zealots  who  had  left  the  Church, 
and  thus  the  return  of  well-known  malcontents 
to  the  House  of  Commons  would  be  secured.  On 
the  whole,  Laud  rightly  alleged,  that  "  the  feoffees 
were  the  main  instruments  for  the  Puritan  faction 
to  undo  the  Church."  — "  I  was,"  says  Laud, 
"  clearly  of  opinion,  that  this  was  a  cunning  way, 


554  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

under  a  glorious  pretence,  to  overthrow  the  church 
government,  by  getting  into  their  power  more  de- 
pendency of  the  clergy  than  the  King,  the  Peers, 
and  all  the  Bishops  in  the  kingdom  had.     And  I  did 
conceive  that  the  plot  was  more  dangerous  for  the 
fairness  of  the  pretence,  and  that  to  the  State  as 
well  as  the  Church."     He  adds  his  reasons  for  pro- 
ceeding against  this  self-elected  body,  which  are  the 
following.  "  1.  Because  little  or  nothing  was  given 
by  them  to  the  present  incumbent,  to  whom  the 
tythes  were  due,  if  to  any,  that  the  parishioners 
who  payed  them  might  have  the  more  cheerful  in- 
struction, the  better  hospitality,  and  greater  relief 
for  the  poor.    2.  Most  of  the  men  they  put  in  were 
persons  disaffected  to  the  discipline,  if  not  the  doc- 
trine too,  of  the  Church  of  England.     3.  Because 
no  small  sum  was  given  to  schoolmasters,  to  season 
youth  ab  ovo  for  their  party,  and  to  young  students 
in  the  University,  to  purchase  them  over  to  their 
party,  when  they  came  abroad  into  the  Church. 
4.  Because  all  this  power  to  nourish  and  maintain 
a  faction  was  in  the  hands  of  twelve  men,  who, 
though  never  so  honest  and  free  from  thoughts  of 
abusing  this  power  to  fill  the  Church  with  schism, 
yet  who  should  be  successors,  and  whatever  should 
be  made  of  this  power,  was  not  of  human  reach  to 
know.     5.  Because  this  power  was  assumed  by,  and 
to  themselves,  without  any  legal  authority  V 

1  Diary,  p.  47.  Troubles  and  Trials,  p.  372,  373.  Heylin, 
p.  200.  Rushworth's  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  151,  152.  Collier's 
Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  754. 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  555 

These  are  arguments  not  easily  refuted,  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  proceedings  against 
those  feoffees  were  highly  expedient  and  necessary. 
Their  corporation  was  not  finally  overthrown  till 
1632,  when  it  was  found  that  the  association  was 
illegal,  and  it  was  reserved  for  farther  consideration 
whether  a  criminal  process  should  not  be  exhibited 
against  them,  and,  if  so,  whether  in  the  Court  of 
Exchequer  or  the  Star  Chamber.  As  the  indivi- 
duals, however,  were  found  to  have  been  consider- 
able losers,  and  to  have  acted  honourably,  all  farther 
prosecution  was  suspended.  The  capital  belonging 
to  them  in  this  affair  was  confiscated  to  the  King ; 
a  measure,  however,  which,  I  confess,  can  hardly  be 
justified. 

In  the  latter  part  of  these  remarks  I  have  antici- 
pated a  year,  but  I  wished  to  finish  the  subject, 
more  especially  as  it  forms  the  third  article  of  the 
"  things  which  Laud  had  projected  to  do,"  already 
quoted,  namely,  "  to  overthrow  the  feoffment,  dan- 
gerous both  to  Church  and  State,  going  under  the 
specious  pretence  of  buying  up  impropriations." 
We  follow  him  now  in  various  transactions  in  which 
he  was  engaged  ;  and  this  year  he  began  to  adorn 
St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  with  elegant  buildings. 

This  distinguished  College,  which  owes  its  foun- 
dation to  the  munificence  of  Sir  Thomas  White, 
consists  at  present  of  two  large  quadrangular 
courts.  The  original  buildings  formed  part  of  St. 
Bernard's  College,  on  the  site  of  which  St.  John's 
is  founded;  Sir  T.  White  having  purchased  that 


556  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

property  from  the  prior  at  the  Dissolution.  At  that 
time  the  college  consisted  of  only  one  quadrangle, 
but  Sir  William  Paddy,  who  founded  and  endowed 
the  choir,  built  that  side  of  the  new  or  inner  quad- 
rangle on  the  south,  which  contains  the  Library. 
Laud  resolved  to  extend  the  buildings  of  the  So- 
ciety; on  the  23d  of  July,  1631,  he  laid  the  first 
stone  of  the  inner  quadrangle,  and  the  three  sides 
he  built  at'  his  own  expence,  without  interruption, 
till  the  work  was  completed,  from  a  design  by  Inigo 
Jones,  who  was  indebted  to  Laud  for  his  first  em- 
ployment at  Oxford.  These  three  sides  cost  him 
5000/.  and  were  completed  in  1635.  The  King, 
acquainted  with  his  munificent  design,  which  he 
intended  to  carry  on  at  his  sole  expence,  presented 
him  with  two  hundred  tons  of  timber  from  the 
royal  woods  of  Shotover  and  Stow,  against  which 
the  Lord  Treasurer  Weston  fruitlessly  remonstrated. 
The  inner  quadrangle  of  St.  John's  is  a  splendid 
monument  of  the  taste  and  munificence  of  Laud, 
and  is  worthy  of  the  great  prelate.  On  the  east  side 
of  the  outer  quadrangle,  is  a  passage  leading  to  that 
built  by  Laud,  and  on  the  east  and  west  sides  are 
splendid  piazzas,  or  cloisters,  in  the  Grecian  style, 
each  column  consisting  of  a  single  stone,  dug  from 
a  quarry  near  Fifield,  in  Berkshire,  on  an  estate 
which  belongs  to  the  Society.  In  the  centre  of 
these  sides  is  a  magnificent  gateway,  of  the  Doric 
order,  corresponding  with  the  piazzas,  surmounted 
by  a  semi-circular  pediment  of  the  Ionic  and  Corin- 
thian orders,  having  a  statue  on  either  side  between 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  557 

the  columns,  in  brass,  that  on  the  right,  of  Charles  I. 
and  that  on  the  left,  of  his  Queen,  Henrietta  Maria, 
both  designed  and  cast  by  Fanelli,  of  Florence. 
These  two  statues  cost  Laud  400/.  exclusive  of  the 
sum  for  building  the  quadrangle.  On  the  east 
side,  above  the  cloisters,  supported  by  eight  round 
arches,  beautifully  ornamented  with  busts  of  the 
four  Cardinal  and  Christian  virtues,  and  Religion, 
above  each  pillar,  besides  other  apartments,  is  a 
magnificent  gallery,  stored  with  book-cases  and 
MSS.  opening  on  the  south  from  the  Library,  part 
of  which  is  in  the  upper  story  of  this  side,  for  the 
purposes  of  study  and  meditation.  The  north  and 
west  sides  contain  suitable  apartments  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Society,  supported  by  similar  cloisters. 
The  Library  is  enriched  by  valuable  manuscripts, 
many  of  which  were  presented  by  Laud ;  and,  be- 
sides his  other  benefactions,  he  bestowed  a  yearly 
sum  on  the  College  of  500/.  In  the  Hall,  on  the 
right  of  the  full  length  portrait  of  the  munificent 
founder  of  St.  John's,  is  the  portrait  of  Laud,  and 
on  the  left  the  portrait  of  Bishop  Juxon,  who  pre- 
sented the  Society  with  a  benefaction  of  70QO/. 

Besides  erecting  the  inner  quadrangle  of  St. 
John's,  which  was  not  finished  till  1635,  Laud  also 
erected  a  structure  towards  the  west  of  the  Bod- 
leian Library  and  Divinity  School,  in  order  that  St. 
Mary's  Church  might  be  kept  exclusively  for  divine 
worship,  and  that  there  might  be  a  suitable  build- 
ing for  the  Public  Congregations  and  Convocations 
of  the  University.  The  lower  part  of  this  structure 


558  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

he  designed  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Uni- 
versity public  meetings ;  arid  the  upper  part  was 
for  the  reception  of  books,  having  an  opening  to- 
wards the  left  wing,  and  here  were  deposited  his 
own  MSS.  &c.  Some  of  his  other  plans,  however, 
were  frustrated  by  the  reluctance  of  the  owners  of 
certain  houses  to  sell  their  property ;  for  he  had 
projected  to  clear  a  great  square  between  St. 
Mary's  and  the  Schools,  whereon  the  Radcliffe  Li- 
brary now  stands,  and  to  have  raised  there  a  lofty 
room,  supported  by  noble  pillars ;  the  upper  part 
to  accommodate  Convocations,  the  lower  to  serve 
as  a  place  of  general  resort  for  the  students  when 
attending  the  Schools,  the  Library,  or  on  any  public 


occasion  l. 


Nor  was  Laud  less  active  in  his  other  employ- 
ments at  this  period,  for,  besides  the  punctual  visita- 
tion of  his  diocese,  he  was  also  engaged  in  consi- 
dering the  repairs  of  his  own  cathedral,  St.  Paul's, 
afterwards  imputed  to  him  as  a  crime.  This  work 
he  rightly  thought  ought  to  be  defrayed  by  the 
nation,  and  a  tax  was  accordingly  levied,  which 
occasioned  the  remark  to  be  made,  that  "  St.  Paul's 
was  repaired  by  the  sins  of  the  people."  Nothing 
could  be  more  necessary  than  the  repair  of  this 
ancient  structure ;  from  various  causes  it  had  been 
suffered  to  fall  into  decay,  and  though  James  had 
issued  a  commission  in  1620-1,  to  enquire  into  its 
state,  and  to  report  what  money  would  be  neces- 
. 

1  Wood,  Hist,  and  Antiq.  Univ.  Oxon,  lib.  ii.  p.  310,  311. 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  559 

sary  for  its  repair,  yet,  from  the  necessities  of  that 
monarch,  his  death,  the  inactivity  of  Montaigne, 
Bishop  of  the  See,  and  the  turbulence  of  the  times, 
the  burden  devolved  on  Laud,  who  was  resolved, 
by  repairing  this  magnificent  and  ancient  pile,  to 
advance  religion,  and  to  rescue  from  dilapidation 
an  edifice  rendered  venerable  by  the  lapse  of  many 
ages.  A  commission  was  accordingly  issued,  bear- 
ing date  the  10th  of  April,  1631,  appointing  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  Lon- 
don, Winchester,  Ely,  the  Lord  Mayor,  &c.  Lord 
Coventry,  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  vari- 
ous Aldermen  and  other  officers  of  the  metropolis, 
to  superintend  all  contributions,  legacies,  and  taxes, 
for  aiding  this  great  work.  The  next  year  the 
work  was  begun,  Laud  himself  contributing  libe- 
rally from  the  revenues  of  his  bishopric,  nor  did  he 
cease  throughout  his  life,  while  in  the  days  of  his 
prosperity,  even  after  his  removal  from  the  See,  to 
use  his  utmost  exertions  to  forward  this  great  de- 
sign. 

These  proceedings,  however,  were  not  allowed 
to  pass  unnoticed  by  the  Puritans.  Their  clownish 
taste,  rendered  more  barbarous  by  their  notions 
about  spiritual  worship,  urged  them  to  declaim 
most  violently  against  the  repair  of  this  cathedral, 
terming  it,  says  Dr.  Heylin,  "  the  repairing  and 
adorning  of  a  rotten  relic,  insinuating  to  the  peo- 
ple, as  they  found  occasion,  that  it  was  more  agree- 
able to  rules  of  piety  to  demolish  such  old  monu- 
ments of  superstition  and  idolatry,  than  to  retain 

7 


560  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

them."  To  them  it  appeared  utterly  useless  to 
bestow  any  attention  upon  the  venerable  cathe- 
drals, and,  besides  the  clamours  which  they  raised 
against  it,  some  of  their  leaders  insinuated,  that  it 
was  a  mere  contrivance  of  the  court  to  extort  money 
from  the  people  without  the  aid  of  Parliament. 
The  preaching  zealots  artfully  introduced  it  into 
their  sermons,  and,  with  all  that  craftiness  for  which 
they  were  remarkable,  endeavoured  to  restrain  the 
contributors  by  rousing  their  fears  as  to  Popery 
and  Arminianism.  But,  notwithstanding  this  op- 
position, the  work  went  on  with  considerable  spirit : 
upwards  of  100,000/.  were  collected  through  Laud's 
exertions,  the  sum  of  10,295/.  4s.  8d.  being  con- 
tributed by  the  King  alone,  besides  various  sums 
by  private  individuals.  Before  the  year  1640,  the 
work  was  almost  finished,  but  in  the  following  year 
misfortunes  overtook  Laud,  the  great  promoter  of 
the  work,  and  at  length  the  violence  of  the  times 
caused  it  altogether  to  be  suspended.  In  the  ever- 
memorable  Fire  of  London,  1666,  this  ancient  and 
venerable  edifice  was  destroyed,  otherwise  it  also 
would  have  been  an  additional  monument  of  Laud's 
piety  and  munificence ;  but  the  record  of  his  exer- 
tions yet  remains,  in  which  it  is  at  once  seen,  that, 
like  the  ancient  Jewish  King,  he  was  not  guided  by 
selfishness  in  his  ideas  regarding  the  public  edifices 
of  religion.  Yet  his  atrocious  enemies,  on  a  future 
occasion,  alleged  his  disinterested  conduct  in  this 
affair  as  a  mortal  crime,  "  so  easy  a  thing  it  is,"  as 
the  learned  Heylin  remarks,  "  to  disgrace  the  man 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  561 

whom  the  weight  of  his  afflictions  has  once  made 
incapable  of  bearing  up  against  such  reproaches  as 
the  tongue  and  pens  of  his  revilers  shall  accumu- 
late upon  him."  Nevertheless,  the  conscious  ho- 
mage to  truth  was,  after  all,  extorted  from  them, 
as  in  the  case  of  Deering,  who  declared  of  Laud, 
that,  die  when  he  would,  "  St.  Paul's  would  be 
his  perpetual  monument." 

While  thus  engaged,  however,  in  designs  which 
sufficiently  indicated  his  greatness  of  soul,  his  piety, 
and  munificence,  and  which,  connected  as  they  all 
were  with  religion  and  learning,  may  not  unjustly 
entitle  him  to  be  called  the  Mecaenas  of  his  age, 
Laud  was  not  forgetful  of  the  duties  he  was  called 
to  perform  as  Chancellor  of  one  of  the  most  ancient 
and  splendid  seats  of  learning  in  Europe.  It 
has  already  been  said,  that  he  was  no  sooner  elected 
Chancellor  of  Oxford,  than,  determined  to  make  his 
office  no  nominal  dignity,  he  thought  it  his  duty,  to 
use  his  own  words,  "  to  reform  the  University,  which 
was  extremely  sunk  from  all  discipline,  and  fallen  into 
licentiousness,"  so  much  indeed,  that  various  com- 
plaints were  made  to  him,  that  if  remedies  were 
not  applied  in  {ime,  "  there  would  scarce  any  face 
be  left  of  an  University."  This  lamentable  de- 
parture from  all  good  order  had  been  chiefly  in- 
duced by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Puritans,  who,  de- 
termined to  oppose  every  measure  which  was  not 
sanctioned  by  the  leaders  of  their  party,  had  con- 
tributed their  influence  to  improve  the  statutes 
which  had  been  suffered  to  fall  into  decay.  Having 

VOL.  I.  00 


562  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

been  successful  in  prohibiting  for  the  future  those 
disorders  which  attended  the  election  of  the  Proc- 
tors, Laud,  in  the  very  year  in  which  he  was  elected 
Chancellor,  by  various  regulations,  began  the  work 
of  reformation.  He  had  been  attacked  by  one 
preacher  that  year,  on  the  2d  of  May,  who,  from 
the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's,  preached  against  every 
outward  sign  of  devotion,  and  endeavoured  to  set 
forth  the  puritanical  notions  about  spiritual  holi- 
ness. Another,  on  the  contrary,  attacked  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  and  reprobated  the  Calvinistic 
dogmas  of  election  and  reprobation.  In  this  he 
went  directly  against  the  King's  proclamation,  which 
expressly  prohibited  any  man  from  reviving  these 
unhappy  disputes.  Both  were  censured  with  the 
utmost  impartiality.  It  extended,  however,  only  to 
an  admonition,  "  for  I  am  not  willing,"  says  Laud, 
in  reply  to  Dr.  John  Tolson,  the  Pro-Vice-Chan- 
cellor,  who  had  written  to  him  on  the  subject, 
"  that  they  should  be  punished,  because  I  would 
pot  be  too  severe  at  my  first  coming  into  office ; 
as  I  know  that  those  sermons  were  written  before 
I  was  Chancellor  i." 

But  the  Bishop  saw  enough  to  convince  him 
that  there  were  factious  individuals  in  the  Uni- 
versity, whose  silence  would  not  be  enjoined  by  any 
lenient  procedure.  He  held  a  weekly  correspondence 
with  the  Vice-Chancellor ;  he  had  already  enforced 
a  more  diligent  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew 

1  Gestis  CanceHarii  Laud,  P.  8. 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  563 

language,  and  procured  a  prebend  of  Christ  Church 
to  be  annexed  to  that  Professorship  for  ever  ;  and  he 
revived  that  respect  due  to  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts,  which  had  fallen  into  disesteem.  For  these,  and 
other  measures,  which  it  is  impossible  in  this  place 
to  enumerate,  Laud  received  the  thanks  of  the  Uni- 
versity, the  Hebrew  Professor,  and  the  Proctors !. 
Yet  this  year  was  characterised  by  farther  disturb- 
ances, in  which  Laud's  conduct  and  impartiality 
were  conspicuous  in  his  decisions. 

It  gave  great  offence  to  the  Puritan  enthusiasts 
in  the  University,  that  the  statutes  should  be  put 
in  order  and  discipline  enforced ;  and,  therefore, 
they  had  resolved  on  all  public  occasions  to  disturb 
the  government,  and  to  incite  the  Proctors  to  a 
variance  with  the  Chancellor.  At  the  head  of  this 
factious  cabal  was  suspected  to  be  the  Regius  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity,  "  whose  name,"  says  Laud,  "  I 
shall  spare,  rather  for  his  coat  than  himself."  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  24th  of  May  1631,  one  Thomas 
Hill,  of  Hart  Hall,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  St. 
Mary's,  indulged  himself  in  a  most  eloquent  in- 
vective against  the  Church.  "  And  here,  were  my 
time  and  learning  parallel  to  my  zeal,"  said  he, 
"  what  a  tempting  doth  present  itself,  to  shew  how 
rashly  (that  I  say  not  cruelly)  our  Pelagian  votaries 
have  handled  the  decrees  and  statutes  of  the  King. 
But  they  are  to  be  mischieved  into  honour,  (but  no 
matter  how)  which  tempts  them  to  disrelish  sound 

1  Gestis,  ut  sup.  p.  11—17,  £c.  MSS.  Reg.  R.  fol.  241 
o  o  2 


564  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

doctrine  on  no  other  ground  than  did  David,  be- 
cause the  lords  do  not  favour  it.  Scripture  they 
use  worse  than  the  Turks  do  Christians  at  Tunis, 
enslave  it  to  the  vassalage  of  the  foulest  error,  and, 
according  to  their  most  current  garb,  employ  it  to 
defend  Popery,  or,  as  bad,  Pelagianism.  Popish 
darts,  whet  afresh  on  a  Dutch  grindstone,  have 
pierced  deep,  and  without  speedy  succour  will  prove 
mortal.  I  am  persuaded  these  transmarine  tenets 
had  not  been  so  fully  and  brief  among  us,  nor  the 
opposite  truth  so  diametrically  condemned  by  many, 
had  they  first  made  proof  of  their  points  in  their 
own  retired  and  curious  contemplation." 

For  these  expressions  Hill  was  compelled  to  make 
a  recantation  on  the  16th  of  July,  in  a  public  Con- 
vocation, and  to  express  his  penitence  in  an  ample 
manner ;  and  Prynne  has,  therefore,  taken  occasion 
to  observe,  that  the  punishment  of  this  .prating 
preacher  afforded  triumph  to  the  Arminian  faction, 
"  who  grew  very  bold,"  says  he,  "  having  both  the 
Chancellor  and  the  Vice-Chancellor  on  their  side  V 
The  Puritans,  however,  were  resolved  to  continue 
their  opposition,  and  "  some  young  divines,"  as 
Prynne  designates  them,  "  moved  with  a  pious  zeal 
and  indignation,"  commenced  a  new  attack,  in  open 
defiance  of  the  King's  Proclamation  prohibiting  any 
discussions  in  public  concerning  predestination, 
about  which  these  religionists  were  absolutely 
phrensied. 

1  Canterbury's  Doome,  p.  174. 


1631.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  565 

That  there  was  a  secret  plot  or  understanding 
among  the  zealots,  is  not  improbable,  and  three  of 
them  brought  themselves  into  very  prominent  notice, 
Thomas  Ford  of  Magdalen  Hall,  Giles  Thome  of 
Balliol  College,  and  William  Hodges  of  Exeter 
College ;  each  of  whom  preached  seditious  sermons, 
in  which  they  attacked  the  Church,  and  those  whom 
they  termed  Arminians,  but  on  whom  they  now 
bestowed  the  names  of  Pelagians  and  Demi-Pela- 
gians, reflecting  also,  in  an  invidious  manner  on 
the  royal  instructions.  The  text  of  Hodges  was 
well  chosen  for  an  inflammatory  harangue,  being 
taken  from  Numbers  iv.  "  Let  us  make  a  captain, 
and  return  into  Egypt."  The  Vice-Chancellor, 
Dr.  Smith,  of  Wadham  College,  immediately 
called  them  to  account  for  their  conduct,  and  re- 
quired them  to  deliver  their  sermons ;  but  they  dis- 
puted his  authority  in  these  matters,  and  appealed 
from  him  to  the  Convocation.  Their  appeal  was 
received  by  the  Proctors,  whose  duty  it  was  to  have 
obeyed  the  instructions  of  the  Vice-Chancellor,  and 
named  delegates  to  take  the  matter  into  considera- 
tion. The  Vice-Chancellor  had  no  other  resource 
•left  than  an  appeal  to  the  King. 

Dr.  Brian  Duppa,  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  in  the 
mean  time  wrote  an  account  of  these  proceedings 
to  Laud,  who,  as  Chancellor,  was  more  immediately 
concerned.  In  his  letter,  dated  August  1,  1632, 
he  asserts,  "  I  have  not  hitherto  troubled  your  Lord- 
ship with  letters  of  information,  concerning  any  of 
our  University  affairs,  knowing  into,  what  sufficient 


566  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1631. 

hands  you  have  committed  the  trust  of  them,  whence, 
I  imagine,  you  receive  a  weekly  account.  But  such 
hath  been  the  height  of  our  late  disorders,  both 
within  and  without  the  pulpit,  that,  were  I  not  to 
express  in  some  way  my  trouble  at  it,  I  might  be 
reckoned  a  very  insensible  member  of  the  body 
which  you  govern.  The  late  uproars  strike  at  the 
very  root  of  government.  The  Vice- Chancellor's 
power  is  questioned ;  the  Proctors  that  should  assist 
him  receive  the  appeals  of  the  delinquents,  and  the 
delegates,  such  as  are,  are  rather  parties  than 
judges.  I  could  wish  this  were  all,  but  this  gan- 
grene will  spread  further,  for  the  University,  by 
these  means,  is  likely  to  become  the  seedplot  of 
mutinies,  to  harass  both  Church  and  commonwealth. 
But  my  comfort  is,  that  the  way  of  their  own  choos- 
ing, the  way  of  appeals  (which,  it  may  be,  at  first 
they  did  not  think  of)  must  at  least  end  before  his 
sacred  Majesty,  for  there  is  nothing  left  but  the 
voice  of  such  a  power  to  allay  the  storm  l" 

The  insolence  of  the  Puritan  preachers,  and  the 
injudicious  conduct  of  the  Proctors  and  Delegates, 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  whole  University,  and 
Laud  was  resolved  that  this  contumacy  should  re- 
ceive its  due  reward.  Accordingly,  on  his  applica- 
tion to  the  King,  the  monarch  informed  him  that  he 
would  hear  the  cause  at  Woodstock,  when  he  came 
thither  during  a  short  progress  of  the  Court.  On 

4  Gestis  Cancellarii,  p.  35.     Wood,  by  Gutdi,  vol.  ii,  Part  i. 
p.  375,  376. 


1632.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  567 

Tuesday,  the  23d  of  August,  the  cause  was  heard 
in  presence  of  the  King,  the  Chancellor,  and  the 
Lords  of  the  Council,  when  it  was  commanded,  that 
Ford,  Thome,  and  Hodges  be  expelled  the  Univer- 
sity ;  that  the  two  Proctors  be  deprived  of  their 
places,  and  the  Delegates,  Prideaux,  Rector  of  Exe- 
ter College,  and  Wilkinson,  Principal  of  Magdalene 
Hall,  be  publicly  censured  and  reproved,  for  patro- 
nising the  enthusiasm  of  the  faction l. 

Having  thus  silenced  the  Calvinistic  disorders,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  impartiality  of  Laud 
in  these  transactions  was  manifest,  and  that  he  acted 
thus,  not  because  he  was  opposed  to  the  dogmas 
of  Calvin,  but  because  he  was  resolved  that  these 
subjects  should  not  be  publicly  discussed.  In  the 
following  year,  Robert  Rainsford,  in  a  sermon  at 
St.  Mary's,  publicly  defended  the  doctrine  of  uni- 
versal grace,  and  wras  accordingly  charged  by  Dr. 
Prideaux,  who  seems  to  have  forgotten  the  leniency 
which  he  had  himself  experienced.  A  summons 
was  immediately  issued  to  Rainsford,  and  he  was 
most  magisterially  compelled  to  make  a  public 
acknowledgment  of  his  fault  in  discussing  themes 
which  had  been  proscribed  by  the  royal  instruc- 
tions. Yet  this,  and  other  instances  of  impar- 
tiality which  might  be  adduced  to  shew,  that  the 
Calvinistic  faction  was  not  the  only  party  opposed, 
did  not  satisfy  the  preaching  zealots.  In  the  month 

1  Gestis  Cancellarii,  p.  36—50,  &c.  Reg.  R.  fql.  37,  38,  &c. 
Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Oxford,  by  Wood,  edited  by  Gutch,  vol.  ii. 
p.  376—381. 


568  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1632. 

of  September  some  satirical  verses  were  dispersed 
at  Oxford,  entitled,  "  The  Academicall  Army  of 
Epidemicall  Arminians,  to  the  Tune  of  the  Soul- 
dier,"  in  which  the  Vice-Chancellor  and  others  were 
severely  mentioned,  with  Laud,  the  Chancellor,  who 
was  styled  their  general.  One  Rogers,  of  Jesus 
College,  was  suspected  to  be  the  author,  and  he 
was  accordingly  expelled  the  University,  but  he  was 
restored  by  Laud  in  the  following  year l. 

It  is  evident  from  these  instances,  that  Laud's 
situation  as  Chancellor  was  not  one  of  mere  honour, 
and  that  it  required  a  man  of  his  vigorous  and  active 
mind  to  govern  with  firmness  and  decision.  The 
leaven  of  Puritanism  was  still  cherished  in  the  Uni- 
versity, and  frequently  its  votaries  exhibited  their 
dangerous  enthusiasm.  Absolutely  phrensied  with 
zeal  for  the  diffusion  of  the  doctrine  of  election, 
those  factious  spirits,  as  they  have  not  been  inaptly 
termed,  resolved  to  bid  defiance  to  all  order  and 
government.  The  zealots  of  those  days  forgot  that 
the  main  design  of  preaching  is  to  call  sinners  to 
repentance  ;  nor  do  they  seem  to  have  been  aware, 
that  they  might  retain  their  Calvinistic  notions,  and 
yet  abstain  from  them  in  the  pulpit.  But  their  faith 
consisted  exclusively  in  holding  certain  doctrines 
which  they  conceived  to  be  the  sufficient  test  of 
orthodoxy,  and,  like  the  modern  evangelicals,  in 
adopting  a  certain  phraseology,  which  they  believed 

1  Wood's  Hist,  and  Antiq.  ut  supra,  p.  381 — 385.  Heylin, 
p.  203.  Diary,  46.  Fuller's  Church  History,  book  xi.  p.  141, 
142. 


1632.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  569 

to  possess  a  talismanic  charm.  With  the  Puritans 
there  was  no  religion  unless  it  was  grounded  on  Cal- 
vin, and  there  was  equally  no  religion  if  unaccompa- 
nied by  their  bewildering  expositions  of  predestina- 
tion. Laud,  however,  thought  otherwise.  He  had  no 
wish  to  keep  Calvinists  out  of  the  Church,  because 
he  knew  there  were  many  such  who  despised  the 
Puritan  follies,  and  who  would  adorn  the  Church 
by  their  piety  and  learning.  But  it  was  his  earnest 
wish,  as  it  must  be  the  wish  of  every  sincere  friend 
of  religion,  to  avoid  public  disputations ;  and  he 
rightly  conceived,  that,  as  religious  matters  must 
appear  in  a  different  light  to  various  individuals, 
men,  while  they  agreed  on  fundamental  doc- 
trines, might  hold  their  own  opinions  on  minor 
points,  and  yet  preserve  peace  and  order  in  the 
Church.  And  who,  then,  was  in  reality  the  liberal 
man  ?  Laud,  who  insisted  that  men  might  preach, 
and  yet  avoid  the  absurdities  of  predestination, 
whether  they  believed  these  or  not ;  or  the  Puritan 
zealot,  who  thought  that  there  was  no  religion  un- 
less it  maintained  the  notions  of  Calvin  ? 

The  disorders  excited  by  predestination,  however, 
were  not  confined  exclusively  to  England.  In  the 
Irish  Church,  concerning  which  more  in  another 
place,  Usher,  the  celebrated  primate,  and  the  first 
scholar  on  the  foundation  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
who,  though  a  Calvinist,  was  indebted  for  his  ad- 
vancement to  Laud,  had  published  a  work  in  the 
Latin  tongue  this  year,  in  which  he  opposed  Armi- 
nianism,  which  he  viewed  as  a  dangerous  doctrine. 


570  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1632. 

He  had  employed  himself  for  some  time  in  endea- 
vouring to  ascertain  the  origin  of  the  predestina- 
rian  controversy ;  and  meeting  with  a  remarkable 
tract  on  the  subject,  he  published  it  in  Dublin, 
1631.  This  tract,  which  appeared  in  quarto,  was 
the  first  book  printed  in  Ireland  in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage. It  is  entitled,  "  Goteschalci  et  Predestina- 
rianae  Controversial  ab  eo  motae  Historia,"  and  is 
dedicated  to  Vossius,  "  a  right  learned  man,"  says 
Heylin,  "  who  had  written  a  book  which  had  been 
much  cried  up  by  the  Remonstrants,"  and  to  whom 
Usher  would  have  presented  the  deanery  of  Armagh l. 
The  Irish  primate,  in  his  haste  to  oppose  what  he 
called  Arminianism,  (and  yet  he  changed  his  opinions 
of  it  in  after  life,)  had  employed  himself  for  twelve 
years  in  making  collections  for  a  history  of  predes- 
tination, but  when  he  had  produced  the  history  by 
Vossius,  he  chose  rather  to  give  up  the  intention, 
and  published  only  the  tract  by  Goteschalc,  which 
had  never  been  printed,  and  which  he  had  procured 
from  France 2.  The  book,  however,  being  in  Latin, 

1  Parr's  Collection,  Letter  144,  dated  February  3,  1629. 

2  Parr's  Collection,  Letter  149,  dated  December  10,  1630. 
It  is  remarkable,  that  so  much  time  and  labour  should  have 
been  expended  on  the  elucidation  of  this  absurd  doctrine  by 
men  of  the  greatest  talents,  and  who  might  have  employed 
themselves  to  much  better  purpose.    From  the  letters  referred 
to  written  to  Dr.  Ward,  it  would  appear  that  the  Calvinists 
were  termed  by  the  Arminians,  Predestinarians,  and  they  in  turn 
by  their  opponents  Semi-Pelagians.     But  Arminianism  has  no 
more   connexion  with  Pelagianism  than  it  has  with  Popery, 
though  it  is  difficult  for  Calvinists  to  deny  that  Predestination 
is  not  another  word  for  religious  necessity. 


1632.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  571 

and  the  mass  of  the  Irish  people  of  that  age  not 
being  remarkable  for  the  extent  of  their  knowledge, 
it  was  less  likely  to  produce  the  same  effects  as 
another  which  Dr.  Downham,  Bishop  of  Derry,  had 
set  forth  on  the  perseverance  of  the  saints.  The 
primate's  book,  therefore,  gave  little  offence,  and 
perhaps  the  government  was  reluctant  to  proceed 
against  him ;  but  the  Bishop  of  Derry's  book  was 
suppressed  by  royal  proclamation,  addressed  to 
Archbishop  Usher  himself,  bearing  date  August  24, 
1631,  the  very  day  after  the  three  Oxford  Puritans 
had  received  their  sentence  of  expulsion.  This, 
moreover,  would  operate  by  the  way  of  a  hint  to 
himself,  that  the  agitating  of  this  controversy  would 
offend  the  King.  Many  copies,  however,  of  Down- 
ham's  treatise  had  been  circulated,  before  the  order 
was  duly  published,  but  instructions  were  at  the 
same  time  forwarded  to  Dr.  William  Bedell,  the 
pious  Bishop  of  Kilmore,  and  translator  of  the  Irish 
Bible,  to  observe  the  publications  of  the  Calvinists, 
that  nothing  should  be  printed  contrary  to  the 
royal  Declaration1. 

It  was  while  at  Woodstock,  too,  as  Heylin  informs 
us,  that  Laud,  whose  enemies  were  continually  on 
the  watch,  suffered  some  expressions  to  escape  him, 
which  were  immediately  interpreted  to.  indicate  his 
opinions  on  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  Being 
himself  unmarried,  and,  withal,  often  vilified  for  his 
alleged  Popish  inclinations,  it  was  immediately  con- 

1  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  750. 

7 


572  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1632. 

eluded,  that  he  advocated  the  doctrine  of  ecclesias- 
tical celibacy,  and  disapproved  of  the  conduct  of 
those  who  had  acted  contrary  to  his  own  example. 
No  report  could  be  more  malevolent  or  unfounded  ; 
for,  though  perhaps  he  might  be  guided  in  his  dis- 
posal of  ecclesiastical  preferments  by  those  private 
opinions  which  induced  him  rather  to  promote  those 
who  were  unmarried  than  those  who  were  encum- 
bered, yet  the  doctrine  of  celibacy  was  never  for  a 
moment  conceived  by  him  as  justifiable  or  expedient. 
And  accordingly,  to  shew  that  this  report  was  the 
gratuitous  invention  of  his  Puritan  enemies,  he  nego- 
tiated a  marriage  between  one  of  his  own  chaplains 
and  a  daughter  of  his  old  and  tried  friend,  Sir 
Francis  Windebank;  "officiating,"  says  Heylin, 
"  in  the  whole  service  of  their  marriage  in  his  own 
chapel  at  London  House,  joining  their  hands,  giving 
the  nuptial  benediction,  and  performing  all  other 
ecclesiastical  rites,  which  belong  to  the  solemniza- 
tion of  matrimony -by  the  rules  of  this  Church  V 

The  year  1632  is  remarkable  for  nothing  more 
than  the  changes  which  took  place  at  Court,  in  the 
administration,  and  in  the  Church.  Wentworth 
was  sent  to  Ireland,  as  Lord  Deputy,  where  he  dis- 
played, in  an  eminent  degree,  his  remarkable  ability 
for  government.  The  interest  of  Laud  procured 
for  his  friend,  Windebank,  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  State,  to  which  office  he  was  sworn  on 
the  15th  of  June  1632,  in  the  room  of  Dudley 

1  Heylin,  p.  212. 


1632.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  573 

Carleton, Viscount  Dorchester,  deceased.  Sir  Francis 
Cottington  had  succeeded  the  Lord  Treasurer 
Weston  in  the  office  of  Chancellor,  and  also  Sir 
Robert  Nanton  as  Master  of  the  Wards  and  Liveries, 
an  appointment  which  induced  a  dispute  between 
him  and  the  Lord  Keeper  Coventry,  concerning  the 
disposal  of  the  King's  benefices.  But  the  greatest 
changes  were  in  the  Church ;  and  here  Laud  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  wise  governor.  Deter- 
mined to  oppose  both  Popery  and  Puritanism,  he 
promoted  the  grandeur  of  the  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment with  unwearied  industry,  displaying  his 
accustomed  integrity,  and  recommending  those  only 
to  the  King  whom  he  reckoned  of  the  greatest  con- 
scientiousness and  public  spirit.  The  previous  year, 
three  great  prelates  had  died.  Dr.  Samuel  Hars- 
net,  Archbishop  of  York,  a  pious  and  learned  theo- 
logian, who  has  received  his  share  of  odium  from 
the  Puritans  for  his  alleged  attention  to  ceremonies, 
and  the  first  who  distinguished  those  zealots  who 
conformed  rather  from  policy  than  principle  by  the 
epithet  of  Conformable  Puritans:  Dr.  John  Buck- 
eridge,  the  pious  and  venerable  Bishop  of  Ely,  who 
had  been  Laud's  tutor,  and  with  whom  he  had  ever 
preserved  the  most  uninterrupted  friendship :  and 
Dr.  John  Howson,  Bishop  of  Durham,  a  prelate 
alike  distinguished  for  his  learning,  and  the  diligent 
discharge  of  his  episcopal  functions. 

These  vacancies,  from  the  peculiar  situation  of 
the  Church,  and  the  state  of  the  times,  required  to 
be  filled  with  peculiar  care ;  and,  as  the  responsi- 


574  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1632. 

bility  rested  on  Laud,  great  caution  was  necessary 
on  his  part.  But  he  well  understood  the  Church, 
and  he  as  well  knew  those  who  had  its  welfare  at 
heart.  His  old  friend,  Bishop  Neile,  who  had  de- 
fended him  on  every  emergency,  was  accordingly 
translated  from  Winchester  to  the  Archiepiscopal 
See  of  York,  though  that  good  prelate  would  have 
preferred  remaining  in  the  See  of  Winchester.  This 
removal  occasioned  a  vacancy  of  two  offices,  the 
clerkship  of  the  closet  at  Court,  and  a  vacancy  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Winchester,  belonging  to  the 
Bishop.  But,  that  "  he  might  have  some  one  whom 
he  could  trust,  near  his  Majesty,  were  he  to  grow 
weak  or  infirm,"  as  he  remarks  in  the  Diary1, 
Laud's  influence  promoted  Dr. William  Juxon,  Dean 
of  Worcester,  and  President  of  St.  John's,  both  of 
which  offices  he  had  previously  procured  for  that 
excellent  ecclesiastic.  Winchester  being  vacant,  Dr. 
Walter  Curie,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  who  had 
been  translated  thence  from  Rochester,  1629,  was 
removed  to  that  See,  and  Dr.  William  Pierce, 
Bishop  of  Peterborough,  succeeded  him  in  Bath 
and  Wells  2.  Dr.  Francis  White,  who  had  signalized 
himself  by  his  opposition  to  the  Papists,  was  re- 
moved from  Norwich  to  Ely,  in  the  room  of  Bishop 
Buckeridge,  this  prelate  having  been  promoted 
from  Carlisle,  his  first  Diocese,  to  Norwich,  in 
1628 3.  Dr.  William  Corbet  was  promoted  from 

1  Diary,  p.  47. 

2  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Anglicanae  Ecclesiae,  p.  34. 
3Le  Neve,  p.  212. 


1632.']  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  575 

Oxford  to  Norwich l,  and  Dr.  John  Bancroft  was 
consecrated  to  the  See  of  Oxford2.  Dr.  Thomas 
Morton,  who  had  been  promoted  to  the  episcopal 
dignity  in  1616,  by  being  raised  to  the  Bishopric  of 
Chester,  and  in  1618,  to  Lichfield  and  Coventry3, 
was  removed  to  Durham  ; — "  a  man  he  was,"  says 
Heylin,  "  who  for  the  greatest  part  of  his  time  had 
exercised  his  pen  against  the  Papists,"  and  no  less 
opposed  to  the  Puritans,  as  appears  by  his  book 
entitled,  "  A  Defence  of  the  three  harmless  Cere- 
monies 4  of  the  Church  of  England,"  published  at 
London,  1619,  which  gave  great  satisfaction  to 
King  James.  Dr.  Robert  Wright  was  removed 
from  Bristol  to  Lichfield  and  Coventry  5,  and  Dr. 
Augustine  Linsell  was  elected  to  the  vacant  See  of 
Peterborough 6. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  secure  the  peace  and 
prosperity  of  the  Church,  by  aiding  in  the  promo- 
tion of  men  who  had  its  interest  at  heart,  Laud, 
whose  vigilance  was  unremitting,  at  this  time  com- 
menced a  prosecution  against  the  King's  Printers, 
for  omitting  the  word  not  in  the  Seventh  Com- 
mandment of  the  Decalogue.  This  prosecution, 
which  could  be  liable  to  no  just  objection,  was,  never- 
theless, recollected  at  a  future  period  by  his  fana- 
tical enemies.  Laud  had  informed  Charles  of  the 
fact,  and  the  printers  were  cited  before  the  High 
Commission,  to  which  court  the  press  was  entrusted. 

1  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Anglicanae  Ecclesiae,  p.  228. 

2  Ibid.  p.  229.  3  Ibid.  p.  126.  4  Ibid.  p.  48. 
*  Ibid.  p.  239.                                 •  Heylin,  p.  215. 


576  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1632. 

The  whole  impression  of  the  edition  was  called  in, 
the  printers  severely  fined,  and,  with  part  of  that 
fine,  he  purchased  various  manuscripts,  with  the 
intention  of  publishing  them.  ff  Of  which  sort," 
says  Heylin,  "  were  the  Catena  and  Theophylact 
of  Linsell,"  the  bishop-elect  of  Peterborough ;  "  a 
solid  divine,"  says  that  author  in  another  place, 
"  and  a  learned  linguist,  to  whom  the  Christian 
world  remains  indebted  for  Theophylact's  Comment 
on  the  Epistles,  and  the  Catena  upon  Job,  pub- 
lished by  him  in  Greek  and  Latin."  It  appears, 
however,  that  this  was  not  the  only  blunder  in  this 
edition.  "  Among  them  (the  printers  and  correc- 
tors,)" says  Laud,  "  their  negligence  was  such,  as 
that  there  were  found  above  a  thousand  faults  in 
two  editions  of  the  Bible  and  Common  Prayer 
Book,  and  one  which  caused  this  search  was,  that 
in  Exodus  xx.  where  they  had  shamefully  printed, 
Thou  shalt  commit  adultery.  For  this  the  Masters 
of  the  printing-house  were  called  into  the  High 
Commission,  and  censured,  as  they  well  deserved  V 
It  was  this  year  that  Henry  Sherfield,  the  Re- 
corder of  Salisbury,  was  fined  for  his  sacrilegious 
attacks  on  Salisbury  Cathedral,  in  1629,  in  which, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned,  stimulated  by  his 
fanatical  zeal,  he  destroyed  a  window  of  stained 
glass,  of  great  antiquity.  He  was  prosecuted  at 
the  instance  of  Dr.  Davenant,  the  Bishop,  and, 
besides  being  fined,  and  deprived  of  his  Recorder- 

1  Troubles  and  Trials,  &c. 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  577 

ship,  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  public  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  outrage  he  had  committed.  But 
another  individual  was  this  year  called  in  question, 
of  greater  consequence,  and  one  of  the  most  violent 
fanatics  of  that  age,  who  afterwards  made  himself 
notorious  by  his  conduct  in  the  infamous  prosecu- 
tion against  Laud. 

William  Prynne,  already  frequently  introduced  to 
the  notice  of  the  reader  in  his  capacity  of  author, 
and  an  incendiary  of  no  ordinary  description,  was 
born  at  Swansicke  near  Bath,  in  the  year  1600, 
and  was  admitted  Commoner  of  Oriel  College,  Ox- 
ford, in  1616,  where  he  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor 
in  1620.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Lincoln's  Inn, 
and,  in  the  profession  of  law,  he  was  successively 
barrister,  bencher,  and  reader.  Becoming  an  ardent 
admirer  of  that  noted  Puritan  enthusiast,  Dr.  John 
Preston,  who,  Neal  informs  us,  "  affected  the  very 
language  of  Calvin,"  he  determined  to  exert  himself 
in  defence  of  the  Calvinistic  tenets,  and  to  lift  up 
his  voice  against  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  gross 
vices  of  the  age.  His  zeal  for  the  predestinarian 
doctrines  amounted  to  a  phrenzy;  he  entertained 
a  mortal  hatred  towards  the  Church,  and  to  every 
thing  which  did  not  emanate  from  the  metropolis  of 
Calvinism,  Geneva.  With  the  view  of  inculcating 
his  notions,  he  commenced  author  in  1627,  and  he 
made  no  secret  of  his  antipathy  towards  Church 
and  State.  The  first  essay  of  this  abnormous  genius, 
as  he  has  been  not  unaptly  termed,  was,  "  The 
Perpetuity  of  a  Regenerate  Man's  Estate,  against 

VOL.  i.  P  p 


578  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1633. 

the  Saint's  Total  and  Final  Apostacy,"  in  which  he 
sets  forth  the  Calvinistic  notion  of  the  perseverance 
of  the  saints.  Having,  in  this  first  effusion,  with 
all  the  zeal  of  an  apostle,  done  his  utmost  to  prove 
his  favourite  dogma,  he  next  commenced  Puritan 
reformer  of  life  and  manners,  and,  in  1628,  he  gave 
to  the  world  other  two  productions  : — "  Health's 
Sicknesse,  or  a  Compendious  and  Brief  Discourse 
of  the  Sinfulnesse  of  Drinking  and  Pledging 
Healths,"  and  "  The  Unloveliness  of  Love-Lockes." 
In  the  same  year,  he  published  his  animadversions 
on  Dr.  Cosin's  book,  entitled  the  '"  Collection  of 
Private  Devotions,  or  Hours  of  Prayer,"  in  a  tract, 
"  Brief  Censure  of  Mr.  Cosin's  cozening  Devotions," 
which  was  answered  by  Giles  Widdows,  M.A.  his 
former  tutor  at  Oriel  College,  in  a  tract  entitled, 
"  The  Lawless,  Kneeless,  Schismatical  Puritan," 
published  at  Oxford,  in  1631,  and  whom  Prynne 
abused  in  a  most  shameful  manner  in  one  of  his 
subsequent  effusions.  In  1629,  appeared  another 
of  Prynne's  works,  "  The  Church  of  England's  old 
Antithesis  to  Arminianism,"  and,  in  the  same  year, 
besides  this  piece,  to  which  he  prefixed  the  general 
title  of  "  Anti-Arminianism,"  appeared  another, 
"  God  no  Impostor  or  Deluder,  or  an  Answer  to  a 
Popish  and  Arminian  Cavil  in  Defence  of  Free- 
Will  and  Universal  Grace."  Having  entered  with 
much  zeal  into  the  controversies  of  the  age,  and 
conducted  himself  with  the  utmost  insolence  to- 
wards the  civil  authorities,  he  of  necessity  be- 
came bolder  in  disseminating  his  notions,  and  it 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  579 

was  suspected,  not,  perhaps,  without  reason,  that 
he  had  the  countenance  of  Abhot,  the  Primate, 
with  whom  he  was  at  that  time  intimate.  This 
Mastyx,  therefore,  published  a  pamphlet,  entitled, 
"  Lame  Giles  his  Haultings,  or  a  brief  Survey  of 
Giles  Widdowes,  his  Confutation  of  an  Appendix 
concerning  Bowing  at  the  Name  of  Jesus,"  &c. 
1631,  in  which,  as  the  title  indicates,  this  fanatical 
zealot,  losing  all  respect  for  his  former  tutor,  abused 
him  in  the  most  virulent  and  unjustifiable  manner, 
quoting  for  his  mottoes,  which  were  then  much  in 
fashion,  Prov.  xxvi.  3,  5.  and  the  passage  from 
Horace,  Sermon,  lib.  ii.  Sat.  3.  "  O  major  tandem 
parcus  infane  minori  V 

1  As  a  specimen  of  Prynne's  manner  in  this  pamphlet,  and 
of  the  gross  abuse  which  he  bestowed  on  a  learned  man,  in  his 
address  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  whom  he  calls  "  his  much 
honoured  mother,"  he  says  "  This  son  of  yours  which  I  meane, 
one  Giles  Widdowes,  a  poore  haulting  widow  in  troth,  for 
traine,  and  learning,  of  which  hee  never  had  two  mites,  of  whom 
I  cannot  say,  as  Festus  did  of  Paul,  that  too  much  learning  did 
make  him  mad,  but  want  of  wit.  These  errors  and  oversights 
of  his,  with  which  I  here  acquaint  you,  are  contained  in  a  new 
divulged  booke,  much  like  the  Authour,  intituled,  '  The  Law- 
lesse,  Kneelesse,  Schismatical  Puritan,'  &c.  In  confutation  of 
which  I  need  say  no  more  to  such  as  know  him,  but  that  Giles 
Widdowes,  Rectour  of  St.  Martin's  Church  in  Oxford,  was 
the  authour."  In  another  place,  addressing  Widdowes,  he  says, 
"  Mistake  me  not,  as  though  I  wrote  this  to  you  to  suppresse 
your  answer.  Alas  !  it  is  so  illiterate,  so  absurdly  impertinent 
in  most  things,  that  I  rather  pitty  than  feare  it.  My  only 
meaning  is,  to  forestall  your  printed  oversights,  which  are  so 
many,  so  absurd,  that  most  will  deem  you  crack-brained  when 

P  p   2 


580  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1G33_ 

This  enthusiast,  however,  had  he  merely  con- 
fined himself  to  polemical  disputation,  would  most 
likely  have  remained  unnoticed,  but  in  Christmas, 
1632  *,  appeared  his  famous  work,  entitled,  "  His- 
trio  Mastyx,  the  Player's  Scourge,  or  Actor's 
Tragedie,  divided  into  Two  Parts2."  In  the  pam- 
phlet formerly  noticed,  he  had  embraced  several 
opportunities  of  declaring  his  sentiments  on  the 
subject,  and  he  makes  use  of  the  argument,  which, 
he  says,  "  Tertullian  writes  of  stage  plays,  which 
had  the  very  devill  hirnselfe  for  their  originall  au- 
thour,  as  he,  with  others,  largely  proves."  This 
volume  gave  great  offence  to  the  court,  as  it  was 
written  insidiously  to  abuse  the  Queen,  who  de- 
lighted in  the  gaieties  of  masquerades,  dancings, 
and  theatrical  exhibitions,  and  who,  in  fact,  is 
coupled  with  the  opprobrious  epithets  which  he 
bestows  on  "  Play  haunters,"  especially  women,  all 
of  whom,  without  exception,  he  styles  "  notorious 

you  penned,  if  not  the  receiver  hare-brained,  when  he  autho- 
rized them."  And,  addressing  the  University,  he  talks  about 
'*  the  brazen-faced  impudency  of  her  sonne  Giles,"  and  his 
"  franticke  oversights,"  whose  "  foolish  scribbling  goosequills," 
he  hopes,  will  be  consigned  to  "  everlasting  peace."  This, 
and  much  more,  too,  for  presuming  to  write  against  such  a  man 
as  William  Prynne. 

1  In  the  title-page  it  bears  date  1633,  because  the  year  then 
began  at  Michaelmas. 

2  Prynne's  book  was  answered  in  1662,  in  a  work  entitled, 
"  Theatrum  Redivivum,    or    the  Theatre   vindicated,  by   Sir 
Richard  Baker,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Prynne's  Histrio-Mastyx," 
8vo.  London. 


1633.]  OF   ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  581 

whores,"  "known  or  suspected  harlots1."  Danc- 
ing is  "  the  devil's  procession  and  invention,"  and 
the  "  devil  danceth  in  dancing  women 2 ;"  love- 
locks are  the  "  wishes  of  vanity,  whereby  the  devil 
holds  and  leads  men  captive."  The  book,  in  short, 
as  Heylin  well  remarks,  "  breathed  nothing  but  dis- 
grace to  the  nation,  infamy  to  the  Church  (as  he  had 
thought  proper  to  condemn  all  music)  reproaches 
to  the  court,  dishonour  to  the  Queen,  and  some 
things  which  were  thought  to  be  tending  to  the 
destruction  of  his  Majesty's  person 3."  Even  the 
most  innocent  amusements  were  censured  by  this 
fanatical  incendiary,  damnation  was  threatened  to  all 
who  opposed  him,  abundance  of  quotations  he  pro- 
duced, which  he  imagined  supported  his  positions. 
The  Histrio  Mastyx  was,  however,  universally 
condemned,  both  on  account  of  its  language,  and 
the  total  want  of  respect  shewn  to  the  King ;  and 
the  lawyers  testified  their  dissent  from  the  absurd 
arguments  of  a  member  of  their  body,  by  publicly 
presenting  to  the  King  and  Queen  a  mask  at 
Whitehall,  the  managers  of  which  consisted  of 
members  of  the  Temple,  Gray's,  and  Lincoln's 
Inns 4.  The  gloomy  Calvinistic  Puritans  alone  re- 
joiced in  their  misanthropy,  in  their  scurrilous 
abuse,  and  in  their  mistaken  notions  concerning 
the  exhortations  and  commands  of  Christianity. 
But  in  this  age  such  effusions  could  not  be  ex- 

1  Histrio  Mastyx,  p.  H4,  145,  &c.          2  Ibid.  p.  228,  229. 
3  Heylin,  p.  217.  4  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  p.  19". 


582  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1633. 

pected  to  pass  unnoticed,  for  although  Prynne  had 
overloaded  his  book  by  his  learned  quotations, 
there  was  enough  in  it  to  inflame  the  zealots  in 
those  days  of  religious  excitement.  His  other  per- 
formances, which  were  in  themselves  highly  ob- 
jectionable, had  not  been  censured,  and  this  leniency 
had  only  served  to  make  him  the  more  resolute  in 
his  opposition.  Reflecting  as  it  did  on  the  court, 
holding  up  the  King's  family  to  ridicule,  fulmina- 
ting abuse  and  threats  against  the  clergy,  and  revil- 
ing every  rite  and  ceremony  of  the  Church,  a  copy 
of  his  work  was  laid  before  the  Privy-Council,  and 
Dr.  Heylin,  who  was  a  prebend  of  Westminster,  was 
commanded  to  analyze  those  passages  which  breathed 
contempt  and  sedition.  Noy,  the  attorney-gene- 
ral, was  instructed  to  prefer  an  information  against 
him,  and  Prynne  himself,  on  the  1st  of  February, 
1632-3,  was  apprehended,  and  committed  to  the 
Tower. 

In  the  Tower,  therefore,  we  shall  leave  this  en- 
thusiast, no  doubt  exulting  in  his  achievements, 
boasting  that  he  was  suffering  "  for  conscience 
sake,"  and  meditating  deep  and  dark  revenge 
against  Laud,  whom  he  looked  upon  as  his  great 
opposer,  until  the  trial,  which  shortly  took  place. 
On  the  13th  of  February,  the  feoffees  for  impropria- 
tions,  which  have  already  been  noticed,  were  con- 
demned, a  measure  highly  expedient  and  salutary 
for  the  Church.  At  this  time,  too,  Laud  engaged 
in  various  concerns  relative  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  583 

land,  an  abstract  of  which  Sir  Francis  Winde- 
banke,  the  Secretary  of  State,  presented  to  the 
Privy  Council.  This  abstract  contained  two  pro- 
posals, one  concerning  the  state  of  religion  in  Bri- 
tish factories  and  regiments  abroad,  the  other  pro- 
fessed to  take  into  consideration  the  French  and 
Dutch  Churches  in  London,  and  in  the  various 
counties  of  England. 

The  members  of  the  Factory  at  Hamburgh,  though 
they  were  permitted  the  exercise  of  the  worship  of 
the  Church,  at  length  deserted  to  Calvinism  and 
the  discipline  of  Geneva,  while  the  English  who 
traded  to,  or  settled  in,  Holland,  were  compelled  to 
conform  to  the  established  religion.  King  James 
had  resolved  to  rectify  the  disorders  which  existed 
among  them,  and,  accordingly,  he  intimated  to  the 
members  of  the  English  factory  that  "  he  would  set 
over  them  a  moderator,  to  be  inspector  of  their 
affairs ;"  but  this,  being  directly  opposed  to  their 
regard  for  the  Genevan  polity,  produced  a  petition 
which  was  presented  to  the  King  in  1624  l. 

The  death  of  the  King  soon  after,  diverted  the 
attention  of  the  government  to  other  affairs,  and 
the  English,  in  the  mean  time,  were  allowed  to 
proceed  with  their  Genevan  discipline  at  Hamburgh. 
While  the  French  and  the  Dutch  churches  in  Lon- 
don and  elsewhere  adhered  most  tenaciously  to  the 
forms  prescribed  by  the  churches  of  their  respective 
Countries,  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England 

1  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  751,  752. 


584  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1633. 

on  the  Continent  disregarded  all  order  and  subordi- 
nation, and  eagerly  attached  themselves  to  every 
novelty  which  might  gratify  their  individual  desires 
of  government.  The  Genevan  ritual  was  observed 
to  the  fullest  extent ;  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
was  set  aside ;  and  while  all  the  privileges  of  a 
Church  connected  with  the  Church  of  England  were 
granted  to  the  Factories  by  the  law,  they  employed 
those  privileges  to  encourage  sectarianism,  and  to 
declaim  against  what  Calvin  was  pleased  to  term  the 
tolerabiles  inepti<e  of  the  Common  Prayer.  In  this 
state  of  things,  Leicester  and  Anstruther,  two  am- 
bassadors from  England,  the  one  to  the  court  of 
Denmark,  the  other  to  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
were  appointed  to  repair  to  Hamburgh,  to  wait  the 
arrival  of  Admiral  Pennington,  who  was  to  convey 
them  home.  The  vessels  under  the  command  of  the 
admiral  had  not  arrived,  and  an  invitation  was  forth- 
with dispatched  to  the  two  ambassadors  to  attend 
at  the  English  Church,  and  to  permit  their  chaplains 
to  do  the  public  duty.  Here,  however,  I  shall  lay 
Heylin's  narration  of  the  results  before  the  reader, 
who  was  alive  at  the  time,  and  had  his  information 
from  the  best  authority.  "  This  invitation  was 
cheerfully  accepted  by  both  ;  the  Earl  of  Leicester's 
chaplain  first  mounted  the  pulpit,  and  after  a  short 
psalm,  according  to  the  Genevan  fashion,  betakes 
himself  to  his  sermon.  The  same  was  done  by  John- 
son, (for  I  remember  not,"  says  Heylin,  "  the 
name  of  the  other,)  when  it  came  to  his  turn.  The 
vessels  having  arrived,  and  remaining  for  a  change 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  585 

of  wind,  the  like  courtesy  was  requested  of  Pen- 
nington,  admiral  of  that  little  fleet  for  the  present 
service.  Pennington  told  them  he  had  no  chaplain, 
but  there  was  in  the  ship  one  Dr.  Ambrose,  his 
friend  and  kinsman,  who  had  been  with  him  during 
the  voyage,  and  he  doubted  not  but  he  would  readily 
accede  to  them  if  they  made  a  request.  An  invita- 
tion having  accordingly  been  given  to  Ambrose, 
and  accepted,  he  attended  the  admiral  to  the  place 
of  worship,  where  he  took  his  station  very  near  the 
pulpit.  The  congregation  being  assembled,  and 
the  psalm  half  done,  an  elder  was  sent  to  remind 
him  to  go  into  the  pulpit.  Ambrose  asked  him  to  be 
accommodated  with  a  Bible  and  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  The  elder  offered  him  a  Bible,  but  told 
him  that  he  had  no  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 
that  those  prayers  were  not  used  by  them.  '  Why 
then,'  replied  Dr.  Ambrose,  '  I  have  one  of  my  own/ 
and  forthwith  he  pulled  a  small  Prayer  Book  from 
his  pocket,  and  commenced  the  usual  service  of  the 
Church.  He  had  not,  however,  ended  the  general 
confession,  when  the  chapel  was  in  an  uproar. 
The  Elders,  in  great  consternation,  sent  their  former 
messenger  to  insist  on  Ambrose  going  into  the 
pulpit,  and  not  to  trouble  them  with  Common 
Prayer  !  Ambrose  replied,  that  if  they  belonged  to 
the  Church  of  England,  as  they  pretended,  it  was 
necessary  that  they  should  use  the  Liturgy ;  and  if 
they  would  have  no  prayers,  they  should  have  no 
sermon.  He  proceeded  with  the  service,  when  the 
messenger  came  to  him  a  third  time,  telling  him 


586  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1633. 

that  he  must  desist  from  a  service  which  was  alto- 
gether unnecessary.  He  immediately  put  the  book 
in  his  pocket,  and  went  out  of  the  chapel,  followed 
by  the  two  ambassadors  and  the  admiral,  to  the 
great  honour  of  himself,  arid  the  confusion  of  John- 
son (from  whose  mouth,"  adds  Heylin,  "  I  received 
the  story)  who,  with  the  other  chaplain,  was  thus 
shewn  his  error  V 

I  have  transcribed  this  anecdote  from  Heylin,  be- 
cause it  is  not  generally  known,  and  because,  being 
undeniably  authentic,  it  is  a  sufficient  argument  to 
prove  the  necessity  of  Laud's  plans  for  regulating 
the  foreign  churches  in  connexion  with  the  Church 
of  England.  Under  the  primacy  of  Abbot,  indeed, 
they  were  allowed  to  go  on  as  they  pleased,  and 
hence  the  greatest  danger  was  evident  as  long  as 
they  were  subject  to  no  control.  Christianity,  as  I 
have  remarked,  is  a  religion  of  authority ;  but  if 
men  are  permitted  to  reject  that  authority  at  will, 
there  is  no  barrier  to  heresy  or  schism.  Forms  in 
public  worship  are  indispensable ;  and,  in  reality, 
there  is  no  service  or  ritual,  however  simple,  desti- 
tute of  them ;  uniformity  is  also  necessary,  other- 
wise there  is  no  way  of  preventing  religious  feuds. 
The  conduct  of  Ambrose  will,  doubtless,  be  con- 
demned by  the  modern  Dissenters,  but  it  is  manifest 
that  their  censure  is  utterly  unfounded ;  for  he  did  no 
more  than  what  they  would  have  done,  in  their  own 
way,  and  which  he  had  a  right  to  do  from  conscien- 

1  Heylin,  p.  218,  219. 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  587 

tious  motives.  The  Presbyterians,  for  example,  will 
not  allow  any  foreign  society  to  be  in  connexion  with 
them  unless  their  practice  is  adopted ;  and  in  like 
manner,  they  denounce  its  members  if  they  make 
use  of  any  other  forms  than  those  which  they  pre- 
scribe. The  same  remark  applies  to  the  foreign 
churches  in  connexion  with  the  Church  of  England, 
the  dignitaries  of  which  would  ill  discharge  their 
duty,  were  they  to  be  aware  of  the  encroachments 
of  sectarianism,  fostered,  it  may  be,  by  an  enthu- 
siastic desire  for  novelty,  and  yet  not  administer  to 
their  salutary  discipline.  Without  discipline,  in 
truth,  there  is  no  Church,  and  hence  it  is  that  the 
notions  of  Independency  are  with  some  persons  de- 
voutly cherished,  because  there  are  in  many  cases  a 
gratification  of  the  passions,  of  the  individual  desire 
for  government,  and  because  many  are  exalted  into 
an  ephemeral  consequence  which  suits  their  own 
inclinations. 

The  reader,  however,  cannot  fail  to  observe  the 
striking  resemblance  there  is  between  this  trans- 
action at  Hamburgh,  and  that  which  took  place 
at  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  in  1555.  During  the 
Marian  persecution,  several  English  exiles  betook 
themselves  to  that  city,  and  among  them  was  Dr. 
Cox,  who  had  been  preceptor  to  Edward  VI.  Cal- 
vinism was  then  in  its  zenith,  and  the  opinions  of 
Calvin  were  duly  inculcated  in  the  English  church 
in  that  city,  by  John  Knox,  the  violent  reformer  of 
Scotland,  who  officiated  there  as  minister.  Of  course, 
the  Liturgy  was  treated  with  contempt  by  Knox, 


588 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


[1633. 


it  had  been  characterized  by  Calvin,  his  master,  as 
abounding  with  tolerable  fooleries 1 ;  and  there 
are  few  persons  acquainted  with  Knox's  temper  and 
actions,  who  need  to  be  informed  of  the  manner  in 
which  he  frequently  conducted  public  service,  or 
the  subjects  which  he  sometimes  discussed.  Cox 
and  his  friends  beheld  with  regret  the  enthusiasm 
of  those  English  Protestants,  excited  by  the  Scotch 
preacher ;  but  determined  not  to  be  restrained  by 
the  harangues  of  Knox,  or  the  epistles  of  Calvin, 
they,  in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  Church, 
made  the  responses  in  a  loud  and  audible  voice, 
the  first  day  they  attended  divine  service,  and  on 
the  next  Sunday  the  Litany  was  read.  This,  which 
Dr.  M'Crie  is  pleased  to  term  "  an  insult  upon  the 
whole  body,"  and  "  an  outrage  upon  all  order 
and  decency  V  was  resented  by  Knox,  who,  in  a 
sermon,  took  occasion  to  abuse  Cox  and  his  friends, 
and  declared  that  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
"  he  would  undertake  to  prove  publicly,  that  there 
were  things  imperfect,  impure,  and  superstitious." 
As  the  exciter  of  an  uproar,  however,  Knox's  offen- 
sive rhetoric  was  resented,  and  at  length  primitive 
simplicity  triumphed  over  Calvinistic  novelties 3. 

Laud  saw  the  mischief  which  would  arise  from 
the  laxity  of  discipline  which  prevailed  in  the  Eng- 

1  Calvini  Epist.  p.  28,  apud  Opera,  torn.  ix.  edit.  1667,  fol. 
Amst. 

2  Life  of  John  Knox,  by  Thomas  M'Crie,   D.D.  of  Edin- 
burgh, 1813,  2d  edit.  vol.  i.  p.  148,  149,  &c. 

3  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  393,  394,  395. 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  589 

lish  Church  at  Hamburgh,  more  especially  as  an 
example  to  other  foreign  chaplaincies,  and  accord- 
ingly he  submitted  to  the  Privy  Council  certain 
regulations,  both  with  respect  to  foreign  relations 
and  also  in  reference  to  the  French  and  Dutch 
churches  in  England.  The  sum  of  these  regula- 
tions, ten  in  number,  as  it  respects  the  former,  was, 
that  every  chaplain  intended  for  foreign  service 
should  conform  in  all  things  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land— that  none  should  be  admitted  who  had  not 
so  conformed — that  those  who  had  been  admitted 
in  an  unqualified  manner  should  be  dismissed,  if 
they  did  not  conform  within  three  months — that 
every  minister  and  chaplain  shall  perform  the 
ministerial  duties  according  to  the  rules  and 
rubrics  of  the  Church  of  England — that  cogni- 
zance shall  be  taken  of  every  chaplain  who  pre- 
sumes to  defame  the  Church  of  England,  and 
to  preach  against  -its  doctrine  and  discipline — that 
no  person  be  admitted  to  supply  the  place  of  a 
preacher,  pro  tempore,  who  has  not  conformed — 
that  the  governors  of  the  factories  and  colonies  be 
members  of  the  Church,  by  which  means  they  would 
be  induced  to  bestow  attention  on  those  whom  they 
employed  as  chaplains — that  at  every  renewal  by  the 
merchants  of  their  patents,  a  clause  be  inserted  for 
the  due  observance  of  these  instructions — that  a 
yearly  report  be  made  of  the  progress  of  these  re- 
gulations— and  "  that  the  English  ministers  in 
Holland,  being  his  Majesty's  born  subjects,  be  not 
suffered  to  hold  any  classical  meetings,  and,  at  all 


590  LIFE  AND  TIMES  [1633. 

events,  not  to  assume  the  power  of  ordination,  from 
which,  if  they  should  not  be  restrained,  there  would 
be  a  perpetual  seminary  for  schism  and  faction  to 
the  disturbance  of  this  kingdom." 

The  regulations  respecting  the  foreign  churches 
in  England  were  equally  wise  and  salutary.  Having 
represented  the  dangers  and  inconveniences  which 
would  arise  from  a  want  of  sufficient  regulations, 
Laud  advises,  "  1.  That  the  number  of  these  fo- 
reigners in  this  kingdom  be  exactly  computed,  in 
order  to  judge  of  the  practicability  of  bringing 
them  to  conform.  2.  That  for  this  purpose  an 
order  be  issued  by  the  government  to  take  an  exact 
list  of  them  in  their  respective  abodes  :  and  that  a 
certificate  be  returned  of  those  of  greatest  interest 
and  influence  amongst  them.  3.  If  they  resolve  to 
continue  separate  from  Church  and  State,  that  they 
should  then  be  under  the  common  disadvantage  of 
strangers,  have  all  duties  doubled  upon  them,  and 
be  unqualified  for  the  privileges  of  natives.  4.  That 
when  it  shall  be  thought  necessary  to  bring  them 
to  the  same  condition  with  other  subjects,  they  be 
warned  in  an  ecclesiastical  way  to  frequent  their 
parish  church,  and  conform  themselves  to  the  ser- 
vice and  worship  established  :  and,  in  case  of  non- 
compliance,  to  proceed  against  them  by  excommu- 
nication, and  to  serve  the  writ  de  excommunicato 
capiendo  upon  them  V 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  753.  Heylin,  p.  220,  221, 
222.     Neal,  vol.  ii.  p.  237,  238. 

7 


1633.]  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD.  591 

These  regulations  we  find  Laud  partly  enforcing 
on  a  future  occasion  in  his  own  province  l,  and,  be- 
sides being  justifiable  from  the  necessity  of  the  times, 
they  are  undoubtedly  founded  on  the  very  measures 
recommended  by  Elizabeth  in  the  second  year  of  her 
reign,  in  her  letter  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  Paulet, 
as  quoted  by  Laud  himself 2.  Prynne,  indeed, 
asserts,  that  this  was  a  stratagem  of  Laud  "  to 
subvert  the  Protestant  religion,"  because  those 
"  Dutch  and  French  churches  planted  among  us," 
had  "  enjoyed  their  own  government,  privileges, 
and  discipline,  without  any  interruption  by  his  pre- 
decessors or  other  English  prelates,  in  all  our  Pro- 
testant princes'  reigns,  from  King  Edward  VI.  till 
this  arch-prelate's  molestation  of,  and  attempts 
against,  them  V  But  how  far  this  man  could  be  a 
judge,  who  reckoned  that  there  was  no  religion 
apart  from  the  dogmas  of  predestination,  may  be 
easily  conceived.  No  one  will  deny,  that  the  re- 
gulation of  foreign  churches  in  England  is  of 
essential  consequence,  otherwise  themes  might  be 
discussed  by  the  preachers,  which  would,  in  their 
practice,  be  destructive  of  the  constitution.  Nor 
does  it  follow  that  a  foreign  communion  in  this 
country,  however  pure  and  primitive  it  might  have 
been  in  its  discipline,  should  have  been  exempted 
from  ecclesiastical  cognizance,  for  the  very  circum- 
stances of  the  times  rendered  it  necessary  that 

1  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist,  ut  sup.  p.  753. 

2  Troubles  and  Trials,  p.  166,  167. 

3  Canterburie's  Doome,  p.  388,  389. 


592  LIFE  AND  TIMES,  &c.  [1033. 

enthusiasm  should  be  checked  without  imposing  a 
tyrannical  restraint  on  the  liberty  of  the  individual. 
And  it  is  unnecessary  to  remark,  that  the  Church 
of  England,  above  every  other  communion,  has 
been  the  most  tolerant  in  these  matters, — that  it 
has  permitted,  and  does  permit,  to  foreigners 
every  liberty  which  they  require  ;  and  while  its  own 
members  have  not  unfrequently  been  restrained  in 
foreign  countries,  has  presented  an  illustrious  ex- 
ample of  liberality  and  forbearance. 

The  principles  upon  which  Laud  acted  in  these 
matters  are  not  only  justifiable,  but  highly  expe- 
dient ;  and  in  requiring  conformity,  he  did  no  more 
than  his  sectarian  opponents.  It  is  exceedingly 
easy  to  make  a  noise  about  liberty  of  conscience, 
but  it  is  another  thing  to  define  it,  or  to  ascertain 
how  far  it  may  extend.  The  peace  and  welfare  of 
a  state  are  to  be  preferred  to  the  scrupulous  fasti- 
diousness of  a  few  individuals,  and  faction  is  re- 
strained with  more  facility  when  it  is  in  its  early 
progress.  Laud  unquestionably  acted  as  a  wise 
governor,  in  providing  against  the  very  appearance 
of  schism,  not  by  compelling  men  to  adhere  to  the 
Church,  but  by  observing  those  who  still  adhered, 
and  who  were,  notwithstanding,  undermining  its 
constitution. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO  LIBRARY 


DA     Lawson,  John  Parker 

396       The  life  and  times  of 

L3L38   William  Laud 

1829 

v.l